Brazilian cotton prices dip in first Feb fortnight - CEPEA

18 Feb '14

2 min read

Cotton prices decreased in the first fortnight of February, affected by the lower demand. Players from the industry are slightly more supplied; therefore, they are refrained and reluctant to accept asking prices, for both immediate and future delivery. Purchasers indicate that the supply of high-quality cotton is low and claim to have difficulties to transfer price rises from cotton to by-products.

Cotton producers are firm in regard of prices. These agents are focused on the soybean harvesting and/or cotton planting and management activities. In early February, players were concerned about the lack of rains in some regions in the Southeast and Central-West Brazil.

Between January 31 and February 14, the CEPEA/ESALQ Index for cotton type 41-4 downed 1.04% and closed at 2.2746 real (0.9541 dollar) per pound on Feb. 14.

According to Icac (International Cotton Advisory Committee) data, the global cotton production might total 25.7 million tons in the 2013/14 season, decreasing 4% in relation to the previous and 8% compared to the 2011/12 crop. This scenario is the result of the smaller cropped area and the lower yield in last two crops.

As for the demand, Icac indicates an increase of 1%, bucking the downward trend observed since the 2009/10 crop, reaching 23.6 million tons. For the next season (2014/15), the demand is expected to continue increasing, at roughly 4%, hitting 24.54 million tons, if the world economy remains increasing.

Secex (Foreign Trade Secretariat) preliminary data point that, in January/14, cotton exports were 52.7% smaller than in December/13, totaling only 21.4 thousand tons. Compared to January/13, the decrease is even higher, 67%. (Cepea – Brazil)

CEPEA

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