Cotton traded lower on Thursday as weakness in ChinaΆs cotton market spilled over into ICE cotton futures. In China, where the bulls have been running rampant as of late, prices in both the cash market as well as ZCE cotton futures fell, with ZCE trading limit down for a time, as news made it into the market that the Chinese Reserve selling program will continue into September. Traders had believed that the reserve selling would cease at the end of August, but it seems that the Chinese government has decided to take advantage of the strong demand for its stocks and extend the auctions for another month before ending the program as new crop harvest begins to come in. So far this year, the Chinese Reserve has successfully sold about 1.6mmt from its inventory- approximately 7mm bales– as Chinese mills have had a strong appetite for the government stocks amidst a more competitive pricing structure and a dearth of imported cotton available in China today.