Posted on 03/28/2022 5:01:34 PM PDT by blam
Cotton futures jumped as high as 4% Monday, reaching a new decade high, as data supplied by weather forecasters say drought conditions in Texas could tighten supplies. The front-month contract in New York hit $1.41 a pound, the highest intraday level since May 2011.
Cotton futures have soared nearly 9.5% in the last three sessions. Prices are coming back in on Monday after hitting a new decade high. Prices around 0950 ET are around $1.36. The latest spike in prices has been due to drought fears in Texas and Ukraine conflict tightening supplies.
Bloomberg cited new data from weather forecaster Ajay Kedia, director at researcher Kedia Commodity, who indicated drought conditions for West Texas would pressure supplies. Texas is the largest state in terms of production; the US is the number three producer in the world.
Weather concerns “will definitely add some fuel to the prices,” he said, adding that cotton could extend its rally to $1.53 in the coming months.
Earlier this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a new report forecasting between April to June, much of the western US, including Texas, will struggle with severe to exceptional drought conditions.
“There is a high possibility if things continue this way we can touch $2 also,” Kedia warned. He said prices have also been increasing due to the Ukrainian conflict and crude and fertilizer prices soaring.
Cotton is the most common natural fiber to make clothing, accounting for a third of all the world’s fibers found in textiles. If cotton prices soar even higher, plus rising farm costs such as fertilizer and diesel, and increasing freight costs, the cost of clothing will continue to climb.
We could easily use hemp but the elites don’t want that.
Nowadays, if I don’t absolutely need something, I don’t buy it. I think I’m actually saving money now.
Nudists win again
Good Will Stores.
When the weather warms up I am going to go around wearing only
a loincloth and a baseball cap, - in protest.
No - only joking... (I had you fooled for a moment there though, didn't I?)
Between modern morals and global warming we won’t need to wear as many clothes.
I have enough clothes that I’ll be fine if I don’t buy anything next year, or the year after.
My daughter, on the other hand....
Supply chains are wildly complex, driven by tax breaks, subsidies, politics and bizarre considerations having nothing to do with efficiency. An example I studied for my MBA tracked cotton across the world on cargo planes to something like ten destinations. Picked in Egypt it went to some tiny Iland to be carded and then to India to be spun and then to another island to be chemically treated, then to Korea (I think) to be woven into cloth, then to Vietnam to be made into a t-shirt blank, then to Italy for printing and a designer logo, then to New York to be distributed to Walmart stores. Each destination had some reasoning that usually wasn’t about profit. Part of this was because fuel was cheap. Labor was cheap where it was being performed. There was no EPA where chemicals were involved, etc.
The current crisis, precipitated in whole or part by Joe Biden, will cause every company to rethink why they do things the way they do and there will be some huge losers, like some tiny island nations that only have one factory. Before you say something like, “Good. Buy American” or something along those lines, remember that today every person threatened with job loss or starvation can get to Mexico and be helped across our border and relocated to the house next to yours.
My old jeans will be worth millions!
Most of the clothes are some man-made material now. Poly this and poly that, propy*** etc.
...and I thought that I was world traveler. Seems my jeans are far ahead of me. I shall treat them with respect starting now.
I have 4 new pairs bought right after Christmas.
With me being limited due to surgery recovery that isn’t quite over, I’ve lost about 60 pounds.
A 5th pair I’ve worn a few times look so baggy.
I’m about to clean out my closets and give everything to Goodwill. Everyone did the same, folks could go without buying anything new for years. Hell, 1995 fashions were just fine.
Bingo!
“ Nowadays, if I don’t absolutely need something, I don’t buy it. I think I’m actually saving money now.”
We are doing the same thing.
“ Nowadays, if I don’t absolutely need something, I don’t buy it. I think I’m actually saving money now.”
‘We are doing the same thing.’
I am doing the exact opposite.
When I see things that I know that I will need in the future I am buying them now.
“ Nowadays, if I don’t absolutely need something, I don’t buy it. I think I’m actually saving money now.”
We are doing the same thing.
Where they grow the cotton in West Texas, the soils are too sandy.
“When I see things that I know that I will need in the future I am buying them now.”
The correct personal strategery for Big Time Inflation.
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