* World 2012/13 cotton ending stocks seen at a record
* Market tumbles on stocks estimate, large supplies
* Cotton prices down two-thirds from 2011 peak over $2/lb
NEW YORK, May 10 (Reuters) - Cotton futures closed down the
daily limit and at their lowest in nearly two years on Thursday
after USDA earlier in the day forecast record world cotton
supplies, analysts said.
July cotton on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange dropped
the 4.00-cent daily limit, or by 4.6 percent, to close at 81.82
cents per lb, with the session top at 86.30 cents.
It was the lowest close for the spot contract since the end
of July 2010, according to Thomson Reuters data.
New-crop December lost 4.00 cents as well to end at
79.37 cents, with the day's peak at 83.75 cents.
The spark for the fall came from USDA, which forecast world
2012/13 cotton ending stocks at a record 73.75 million (480-lb)
bales, up over 10 percent from the 2011/12 level.
Thursday's estimated volume was nearly 36,700 lots was more
than 50 percent above the 30-day norm, according to Thomson
Reuters data. That would be on track for the biggest daily
volume traded since April 18, ICE Futures U.S. data showed.
Sharon Johnson, senior cotton analyst for commodity brokers
Penson Futures in Atlanta, said the market reeled from the
bearish impact of monthly supply numbers from the U.S.
Agriculture Department and talk of ample rain in Texas, the top
cotton growing state in the country.
"We'll see additional downside (in cotton futures)
tomorrow," she said referring to the momentum from the limit
down moves in both old-crop July and the new-crop December.
USDA said American farmers will see lower prices in the
upcoming 2012/13 season.
"The forecast range for the marketing-year average price
received by producers is 65 to 85 cents per pound, compared with
91.0 cents estimated for 2011/12," it said.
A cotton trader said supplies could be bloated further if
U.S. yields approach levels of the last two seasons.
USDA projected U.S. cotton yields in 2012/13 at 777 lbs per
acre, compared with 790 lbs in 2011/12 and 812 lbs in 2010/11.
USDA also reported a total of 28.05 million bales is in
China, accounting for nearly 40 percent of world supplies.
China, the world's top consumer of cotton, will see imports fall
by a third to 14 million bales from 21.5 million bales in
2011/12.
Open interest stood at 186,899 lots as of May 9, ICE
Futures U.S. exchange data showed.