April 1, 2014
US 2013 cotton production down due to poor weather
A day after reaching a two-year high, US cotton prices fell nearly 3% while cotton for May delivery fell US$0.025 or 2.6% to US$0.92 a pound.
The price of cotton hit a two-year high after the USDA reported a steep drop in cotton production in 2013 because of poor weather. US cotton production was 12.87 million bales last year, versus the 17.29 million bales the year before.
The US is not the world's largest cottonproducer but it is by far the world's largest exporter of the fibre, selling the commodity to countries like China, Turkey and Bangladesh to fuel those countries' clothing industries. China itself imported more than 11 million bales of cotton in 2013, according to data from the National Cotton Council.
In other agricultural commodities, May wheat fell US$0.115, or 1.6%, to US$256 per tonne and corn fell US$0.02, or 0.4%, to US$191 per tonne. Soy rose US$0.12, or 0.8%, to US$529 per tonne.