"I have attended a conference on cotton yesterday where all the major consuming and producing countries were represented and I wanted to share my views with the collective: the demand all over the world is very very poor. The spinners, weavers, cloth manufacturers, apparel buyers all seem to have excess supplies. The general consensus was that it would not be realistic to expect prices to improve before three months. It is true that cotton prices lost half their value in the last three months, but if one looks at the long term chart, it is still high in historic terms. I agree prices will improve provided the slow down is not very severe, but I do not expect the improvement before the New Year."

Eoin Treacy's view Thank you for this informative email contributed in the spirit of Empowerment Through Knowledge. Cotton broke a secular inflation adjusted downtrend earlier this year. It has since pulled back to test the upper side of the long-term range in nominal price terms. Prices have lost downward momentum in the region of the 100¢ level. Support building could take some time given the extent of the decline which is consistent with your view.