Cotton futures edged up in value Friday amid signals of reduced demand of the soft commodity from the U.S., which is the globe's top shipper, according to Bloomberg.
For the week ended August 11, international buyers cancelled 337,000 bales-worth of orders of the fiber, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. One bale of cotton weighs 480 pounds and one U.S.-based trader said the commodity's poor performance is indicative of a slowdown and reflects the reductions in supply and demand.
"Export sales were pretty dismal," president John Flanagan of Flanagan Trading in North Carolina told Bloomberg. "What that says is that there's not much demand for cotton this year. Factories aren't going to buy cotton if stores aren't going to buy clothes."
At 8:07 a.m. on Friday, cotton futures increased 0.04 percent, a .04 cent climb to $1.0699 per pound.
Southwest Farm Press reports the worst drought in Texas history has caused losses of $1.8 billion to the cotton industry, according to state Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples. Texas is the U.S.' largest producer of the commodity.
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