New York cotton futures smidgen lower

Cotton futures ended marginally softer Monday as the market consolidated near a five-month high and could grind higher over the next few sessions, brokers said. ICE Futures open-outcry March cotton contract eased 0.20 cent to finish at 65.65 cents per lb, trading from 65.25 to 66.10 cents.
The contract's Friday close was the highest finish for cotton on a spot basis since the middle of July. May shed 0.10 to 67.12 cents. The rest ranged from 0.35 cent easier to 0.55 cent firmer. The ICE March electronic cotton contract was down 0.25 cent to 65.60 cents at 2:47 pm EST (1947 GMT) with volume in the contract at 8,752 lots.
Frank Weathersby, an analyst for brokers Affinity Trading in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, said fibre contracts will "probably take a shot higher" given the way it closed and could soon target 66 cents. The weekly cotton commentary by Nunn Cotton Co in Brownsville, Tennessee, said the March contract might be ready to climb back to the region of 69 to 70 cents.
"Cotton prices certainly need to begin moving higher if the slip in acreage for 2008/09 is to be halted," it said. The strength in cotton prices is underpinned by widespread expectations among the industry that US cotton sowings next year will be even lower than the 18-year low of 10.847 million acres sown in 2007.
Memphis, Tennessee-based analytic firm Informa forecast US 2008 cotton plantings at 9.185 million acres, which would be the lowest sown to cotton since 1983 when 7.926 million acres were planted, according to data from the US Agriculture Department. The cotton market edged higher at the start, slipped to its lows for the session and then wound up within a few points of unchanged on speculative action, traders said.
Brokers Flanagan Trading Corp see resistance in cotton contract at 66 and 66.70 cents, with support at 65.20 and 64.55 cents. Open-outcry cotton volume Friday was at 6,685 lots and screen trade at 15,373 lots. Open interest in the market added 2,971 lots to 219,222 lots as of December 14, according to exchange data.