China Cotton
DJ UPDATE: China Cotton Futures Sharply Lower On Inventory Glut
BEIJING (Dow Jones)--Cotton futures on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange fell sharply Thursday due to an inventory glut, broad commodity weakness and concerns over macroeconomic policy tightening.
The most actively traded September contract dropped 4.9% to CNY24,915 a metric ton around 0230 GMT.
Cotton has stumbled since March this year due to oversupply and high private inventories.
Sales of key cotton products in April reached their lowest level since September 2008, while spot prices were at their lowest since October 2010, stockpiler China National Cotton Reserves Corp. said in a report Wednesday.
Zhengzhou cotton has fallen 39% since its mid-February peak.
Separately, the China Cotton Association said Thursday that dry, hot weather in the last 10 days of April in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a major cotton-producing area, may have affected acreage.
In some areas, planting was 3-18 days behind the usual schedule, it said in a report. However, it added that soil moisture remained favorable, and rainfall expected in the first 10 days of May was likely to offset the risk of crop dehydration from delayed planting.
Source: Dow Jones Newswire