US cotton futures finished lower for a fourth straight day Wednesday, as a USDA crop report showing big crop plantings in some agricultural commodities triggered hefty selling in the cotton market. March cotton finished down 5.28 cents or 2.8 percent at $1.8128 per lb, having traded in a range between $1.7900 per lb and $1.8507 per lb.
Huge US corn and soybean plantings this spring will likely fail to refill razor-thin stocks enough to quell the surge in grain prices, the US Agriculture Department said on Thursday. "I don't know that there's any big surprise there. We were looking for big acreage and we got big acreage," said Jack Scoville, analyst with Price Futures Group in Chicago.
"I think cotton kind of topped out anyway," he said. Scoville said he is waiting to see forecasts for demand and ending stocks for cotton, and that it's too early to tell whether the USDA's forecast is bearish or bullish on the market. China will become America's top export market, surpassing Canada. China is seen importing 60 percent of the world's soybeans and 40 percent of its cotton this year, the USDA report said. Analysts and brokers said they expect future shortages are still possible due to strong global demand and short supplies that eventually may push prices back up to their record levels.
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