Cotton Rises on Mississippi River Flooding;

Cotton Rises on Mississippi River Flooding;
By Ashley Lutz - May 10, 2011 3:05 PM ET
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Business ExchangeBuzz up!DiggPrint Email .Cotton rebounded from a three-month low on concern that flooding in the lower Mississippi River will hurt crops in the U.S., the world’s largest exporter. Orange juice also advanced.

At least 130,000 acres were flooded in Missouri, and even more land may be under water in Tennessee and Mississippi, state officials and farmer groups have said. Combined planting in the three states was forecast at 1.36 million acres this year out of 12.6 million in the U.S., government data showed.

“There is some concern over the flooding in the Mississippi Delta,” said Andy Ryan, a senior risk-management consultant at FCStone Fibers & Textiles in Nashville, Tennessee. “People are cautiously waiting to see what happens.”

Cotton for July delivery rose the exchange limit of 6 cents, or 4.1 percent, to settle at $1.514 a pound at 2:42 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Earlier, the most-active contract touched $1.43, the lowest since Jan. 18. The price has climbed 87 percent in the past 12 months.

Planting in Texas, the biggest U.S. grower, was estimated at 6.12 million acres this year, followed by Georgia at 1.45 million, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed. Mississippi was fifth at 530,000 acres, followed by Tennessee at 470,000. Missouri was ninth at 360,000.