New York cotton settles higher

Cotton futures finished higher Friday on trade and possible mill buying to offset early pressure caused by a bearish government crop report handed out in the previous session, analysts said. Benchmark March cotton on ICE Futures US went up 0.23 cent to finish at 90.61 cents per lb, dealing from 89.99 to 91.46 cents. "There were mill fixations at the first sign of stability," said Mike Stevens, an independent analyst in Mandeville, Louisiana.
Cotton slid at the start on follow-through investor sales after the bearish impact of the US Agriculture Department's monthly supply/demand report. The data showed that world 2011/12 cotton stocks were forecast at 60.77 million (480-lb) bales, from 58.35 million bales in last month's report.
The USDA also increased its estimate for world 2011/12 cotton production to 123.34 million bales, from 122.84 million, and reduced world 2011/12 cotton consumption to 109.71 million bales, from 109.99 million bales. Traders said US cotton production estimates were largely unchanged and did not have an impact on the market. On Saturday, the trade is looking toward release of an annual survey by the National Cotton Council on potential US cotton plantings this year. Normally, the report is released on Friday but the release has been reset to a day later.
A Thomson Reuters survey in January showed American farmers are expected to cut 2012 cotton plantings by some 10 percent to nearly 12 percent to around 13.002 million to 13.242 million hectares. Open interest in cotton , an indicator of investor exposure in the market, rose to 193,308 lots as of February 9, the highest since the middle of April last year, ICE Futures US data showed. Volume traded on Friday was more than 31,000 lots, more than double the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters data showed. On Wednesday, volume hit 66,008 lots, the highest amount traded since mid-February 2011, exchange data showed.