Cotton market gives muted reaction to USDA report

The US Agriculture Department's monthly supply-demand report was given a subdued reaction by the cotton futures market because the figures provided little surprise to the market, analysts said. USDA trimmed world cotton ending stocks in 2009/10 to 56.13 million (480-lb) bales from 56.26 million, lowered the 2009/10 US cotton crop to 13 million bales from 13.44 million and reduced consumption slightly to 112.64 million bales from 112.74 million bales.
"Everything is within line of expectations," said Mike Stevens, an analyst for brokers SFS Futures in Mandeville, Louisiana. Sharon Johnson, cotton expert for First Capitol Group in Atlanta, Georgia, said the data should be disappointing for market bulls who had been looking forward to a more friendly report. The December cotton contract was trading flat at 63.65 cents per lb at 8:49 am EDT (1249 GMT).