Cotton futures surged to a record on mounting supply concerns after flooding in Pakistan and Australia slashed crops.

Pakistan, the world’s fourth-biggest grower, faces a shortfall of 2.5 million bales, according to the nation’s textile mills association. An Australia industry group said last month that 300,000 bales were lost, and the northeast part of the country has been pounded by Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Cotton inventories monitored by ICE Futures U.S. tumbled 85 percent since June 1 and prices have more than doubled.

“The fundamentals of the current crop remain bullish,” said Mike Stevens, an independent trader in Mandeville, Louisiana. “Cotton is leading the commodities bull-market pack.”

Cotton futures for March delivery rose by exchange the maximum of 4 cents, or 2.3 percent, to a record $1.7622 a pound at 2:49 p.m. on ICE in New York. The price jumped 16 percent last month, the biggest gain among the 19 commodities in the Thomson/Reuters Jefferies CRB Index.

Prices have surged as demand boomed in China, the world’s biggest consumer. In 2010, the country’s cotton imports jumped 86 percent to 2.84 million metric tons, according to customs data. That’s the most since 2006, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

China “continues to aggressively buy at high levels in order to ensure delivery of cotton to meet robust demand,” Evren Kopelman, an analyst at Wells Fargo Securities LLC., wrote in a Jan. 31 report.