Cotton Prices Drop 27% in Past 3 Months

Cotton prices are headed back down. Current prices have dropped 27% in the past three months from the March high of $2.296. December 2011 pricing closed at 98.64 cents per pound, representing a 57% drop from the high.

But don’t get your hopes up. Lower prices (if any) will not show up until mid-2012. It’s been a number of years since apparel companies have taken a price increase and now they have to decide to keep the current prices and make up some margin or reduce prices and pass the savings on to you.

“Apparel inflation has gone nowhere close to the price of cotton,” says Joe Nicosia, chief executive of Tennessee-based Allenberg Cotton, the world’s biggest cotton merchant.

We will continue to monitor cotton pricing and how it will affect our industry. In the meantime, please review these two articles for more details on the future of cotton pricing.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903554904576458270983393048.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-news/global-exchange/financial-times/cottons-volatile-run-set-to-continue/article2108399/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2108399

Post Written By Marty Duncan, ICBA Program Manager