By Debarati Roy - Dec 17, 2010 2:34 AM GMT+0530 Thu Dec 16 21:04:20 GMT 2010
Cotton futures jumped to a one-month high on signs of a delay in lifting limits on exports from India, the world’s second-biggest producer. Orange juice was little changed.
In November, India’s farm minister, Sharad Pawar, said India would decide by Dec. 3 on easing a cap on shipments. No announcement has been made yet. Futures have surged 93 percent this year, heading for the biggest annual gain since 1973, as growers struggled to meet mounting demand from China, the biggest user.
“Prices have been propelled as a decision by the Indian government may be made much later than earlier anticipated,” Andy Ryan, a senior risk-management consultant at FCStone Fibers & Textiles in Nashville, Tennessee, said in a report.
Cotton for March delivery rose 3.98 cents, or 2.8 percent, to settle at $1.4612 a pound at 3:21 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Earlier, the price gained by the exchange limit of 4 cents to $1.4614, the highest since Nov. 10, when the fiber reached a record $1.5195.
India said in September that it would cap shipments at 5.5 million bales in a bid to meet domestic demand. An Indian bale weighs 375 pounds, or 170 kilograms.
Futures have climbed six times in the past seven sessions.
“Technically, the market looks very bullish,” Sharon Johnson, a senior analyst at Penson Futures in Atlanta, said this week.
China is the biggest grower, and the U.S. is the leading exporter.
Orange-juice futures for January delivery gained 0.15 cent, or 0.1 percent, to $1.5615 a pound.
The price tumbled 6.6 percent in the previous two days as concerns ebbed that freezing weather would hurt citrus crops in Florida, the second-biggest grower.
The commodity is up 21 percent this year. Brazil is the top producer.
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