US cotton exports could beat expectations.
A survey of commodities experts by the Bloomberg News organization predicts U.S. cotton exports will beat projections published last month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS).
Bloomberg reported that sales to textile mills in the last three months of the marketing year have beat analysts' projections and new projections put U.S. cotton exports at 12.33 million bales in the year ending July 31.
The ERS March report forecast that global cotton consumption this year would decline 9.5 percent from 2007-08, the largest year-to-year percentage decrease in more than seven decades due to the global economic recession and plummeting demand in textile producing countries.
Global demand for cotton products and raw cotton fiber was expected to be at its lowest level in 4 years while global cotton trade is at its lowest in 7 years, ERS reported last month.
The United States, the leading raw cotton exporter, was forecast last month to ship the lowest level in 6 years.
New cotton export data will be released by USDA on Thursday.
