NEW YORK, May 11: Cotton futures closed lower on Friday on a steady barrage of technically inspired speculative sales after an upbeat government crop report was ignored by market players, brokers said.

New York Board of Trade’s open-outcry July cotton contract sank 0.92 cent to conclude at 48.11 cents per lb, dealing from 48.70 to a new lifetime low of 47.58 cents. New-crop December delivery dropped 1.02 cents to 52.90 cents and the rest retreated 0.60 to 0.90 cent.

Fundamentally, the market paid little heed to the monthly supply/demand report from the US Agriculture Department which contained its first snapshot of conditions in the 2007/08 marketing year (August/July).

USDA forecast 2007/08 world cotton consumption at 127 million (480-lb) bales, up from 122.16 in 2006/07 and trade belief it would range between 122 and 126 million bales. Imports by China, the world’s top consumer, were pegged at 17 million bales in 2007/08 from 13 million.

—Reuters