Cotton futures jump on worries over high-grade supplies

Cotton prices advanced on ICE Futures US on Tuesday, regaining much of the prior day's losses on demand in the cash market and worries over supplies of high-grade cotton in the United States, the world's largest exporter. "Part of the issue is this low-quality crop," said Jack Scoville, a vice president with Price Futures Group in Chicago.
Prices of crops like soybeans, with which cotton competes for acreage, were also higher, lending support. The March cotton contracts on ICE settled up 0.9 cent, or 1.4 percent, at 63.54 cents per lb. The cash to second-month spread gained 1.57 cent to 1.36 cents per lb. Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of November 30 totalled 65,409 480-lb bales, up from 63,958 in the previous session. The dollar index was down 0.39 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was up 1.02 percent.