Speculation about a more constricted global supply and how commodity markets will contend with a healthy demand pushed up cotton futures Thursday, Bloomberg reports.
The U.S. government was preparing to reduce the estimate of the size of the U.S. harvest, which helped the price of the rapidly rising soft commodity.
"Expectations of lower U.S. output coupled with fear of dry weather across the Texas region is pushing prices higher," Mike Stevens, an independent trader in Louisiana, told the news service. "Also, there is some short covering by some mills."
Shortly after 2 p.m. on Thursday, cotton futures were up 0.99 percent, a 0.0205 cent increase to $2.1011 per pound. Earlier in the day, cotton futures gained the maximum allowed seven cents.
Cotton futures have more than doubled during the past 12 months amidst a sharply increased demand for the commodity from China and decreased output from the U.S., which is the globe's largest shipper of the fiber.
The U.S. state that generates the most cotton is Texas.
Cotton futures touched a record price of $2.197 per pound on March 7.
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