New York cotton slips

Cotton futures ended off a seven-week high Friday on trade sales, and market sources thought prices would consolidate until the federal government's global supply and demand report due next week.
The New York Board of Trade's December cotton contract slipped 0.87 cent to close at 56.28 cents per lb., after trading from 55.75 to 57.15 cents.
March lost 0.77 cent to 59.13 cents, and the rest fell from 0.45 to 0.75 cent.
"The trades were scale-up sellers today," with funds and speculators buying on a technical market, said Mike Stevens of Mandeville, Louisiana-based Swiss Financial Services.
Stevens said he expected cotton prices to consolidate between 55 and 58 cents ahead of next week's key crop report from the US Department of Agriculture.
"We should see one big haul push, and then we're just going to turn sideways for a while," John Flanagan of Flanagan Trading Corp said.
The Department's monthly global supply/demand report due out at the end of next week will have a larger impact than its crop report, because the market expects a drop in US crop figures due to extreme heat in the cotton belt, Flanagan added.
The July supply/demand report forecast US cotton output for 2006/07 at 20.5 million (480-lb.) bales. Last year, output hit a record 23.89 million.
"I think we will probably see a higher figure than what a lot of people are saying," Stevens said, projecting the agency's US cotton production count at 19.5 million bales.
Market worries that the crop report will show a figure around 18 million or 18.5 million were premature, Stevens said, explaining that numbers that low were likely to hold only during the crop harvest.
The market also took note of the USDA's weekly export sales report, which showed total US cotton sales at 113,800 (500-lb.) running bales, up slightly from last week's 107,500 RBs.
US cotton shipments of previously booked orders hit a marketing year high of 598,800 RBs, up from 463,000 RBs in last week's data. China was the top destination, with shipments of 236,000 RBs.
Broker Flanagan Trading Corp saw resistance in the December contract at 56.70 and 57.20 cents, with support at 55.50 and 56.25 cents. Floor dealers said final estimated volume amounted to 8,500 lots, nearly half of Wednesday's 19,036 lots. Open interest in the cotton market fell 90 lots to 163,630 lots as of August 3.