Cotton futures rose on Monday on damage to crops by Hurricane Matthew in parts of the United States over the weekend and concerns over tensions between top producers India and Pakistan. Matthew, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007, was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Sunday after its rampage through the Caribbean killed 1,000 people in Haiti.
After receiving more than a foot (30 cm) of rain from Matthew during the weekend, skies were clear over North Carolina on Monday but the storm's after-effects were creating major problems by overwhelming rivers and breaching levees. "Hurricane Matthew hitting up in North Carolina may have damaged some of the North and South Carolina cotton crop," said Keith Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia, adding that anxiety over the trade halt between Pakistan and India has made the market a "little jittery".
Rising hostilities between India and Pakistan have brought their $822 million-a-year trade in cotton to a halt, traders noted. The natural fibre market also awaited weekly crop progress data from the US Department of Agriculture due later on Monday. The December cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled up 0.38 cent, or 0.57 percent, at 67.36 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 67.1 and 68.49 cents a lb. Total futures market volume rose by 773 to 19,348 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 326 to 246,816 contracts in the previous session. CE cotton speculators cut net long positions by 6,414 contracts to 76,206 in week to October 4.