Matthew Laughlin, a cotton marketing official for J.G. Boswell Co in Pasadena, California, said in a report at the annual Beltwide cotton conference that tight supplies of pima and ELS cotton has boosted marketing expectations in 2004/05.
Pima and ELS cotton are finer fiber varieties that are increasingly being used by textile mills for better quality yarns and fabric. The top producers of pima and ELS cotton are Egypt and the United States.
Laughlin, who has been involved in pima and ELS cotton for several years, said the market turned around after prices fell to record lows in 2002/03 because of high stocks and large output in the US and Egypt.
World ELS cotton output fell to 2.6 million (480-lb) bales in 2003, the lowest in five years. Ending stocks this summer are projected by the International Cotton Advisory Committee at less than 900,000 bales, a 10-year low.