Cotton futures fell in light volume on Wednesday, drifting lower on the heels of strong gains in the prior session after the US government released a much-anticipated planting intentions report. The front-month May cotton contract on ICE Futures US fell 0.52 cent, or 0.8 percent, to settle at 62.58 cents a lb.
That marked an inside day in which fiber neither exceeded the prior session's high nor fell below the prior session's low.
"Cotton's just tracked sideways," said Keith Brown, proprietor and cotton trader at Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia.
On Tuesday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued its Prospective Plantings report, forecasting that US farmers will plant 9.549 million acres of cotton in 2015. That was the lowest level since 2009 but came in largely in line with market expectations.
Prices dipped to intraday lows shortly after the report's release, attracting mill buying and prompting a rally, which fiber retreated from.
Brown noted that final acreage could still change from the USDA forecast, and said that rains in the United States' mid-south region could delay plantings of corn, one of the main crops competing with cotton for acreage. "It's too wet to get anything planted," Brown said. "The planting window is closing."
This could encourage farmers to plant more cotton than they had initially intended, he added.
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