Cotton futures climbed by the exchange limit in New York as dwindling stockpiles renewed speculation that supplies will fall short of climbing demand.

As of yesterday, cotton inventories monitored by ICE Futures U.S. plunged to 11,446 bales from this year’s high of 1.08 million on June 2. Global consumption will increase 2.6 percent in the year that began Aug. 1 from a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said. A bale weighs 480 pounds, or 218 kilograms.

“We’re still in very much a bull market,” said Keith Brown, the president of Keith Brown & Co., a brokerage in Moultrie, Georgia. “We’re thinking about a smaller crop. We’re seeing demand remain robust.”

Cotton futures for December delivery rose 4 cents, the most allowed by ICE, or 3.6 percent, to settle at $1.1426 a pound at 2:30 p.m. in New York. On Oct 15, the price reached $1.198, the highest level since the fiber starting trading 140 years ago.

This year, futures have jumped 51 percent, the most among 19 raw materials in the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index.

Cotton probably will outperform other raw materials because of tight supplies, Dwight Anderson, a commodity hedge-fund manager who oversees $1.8 billion, said yesterday at the Global Financial Leadership Conference hosted by CME Group Inc. in Naples, Florida.

Anderson, the founder of New York-based Ospraie Management LLC, said that platinum-group metals and copper will also gain more than other commodities.