Cotton hits more than one-month low on China concerns, dollar strength

Cotton futures fell to their lowest levels in more than one month on Monday as weak manufacturing data and tumbling stocks in China, the world's top consumer of the fibre, stoked demand concerns. "It suggests that they might not import as much cotton," said Keith Brown, a Moultrie, Georgia-based cotton broker, noting that the stronger dollar was also pressuring prices.
March cotton on ICE Futures US settled down 0.67 cent, or 1.06 percent, at 62.61 cents per lb, after rising as high as 63.55 cents a lb, its highest level since November 30. Total futures market volume rose by 12,085 to 29,639 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 242 to 185,394 contracts in the previous session. Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of December 31 totalled 64,340 480-lb bales, unchanged from 64,340 in the previous session. The dollar index was up 0.26 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was down 0.94 percent.