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U.S. May Cut Cotton-Crop Estimate for Fourth Month, Survey Says

By Yi Tian - 2012-02-07T14:42:00Z

The U.S. government probably will lower its estimate of the recently-harvested cotton crop for a fourth straight month after drought hurt production in Texas, a Bloomberg News survey of eight analysts showed.

Estimates for production, exports and inventories for the marketing year ending July 31 are listed below in millions of bales, each weighing 480 pounds (218 kilograms). The U.S. Department of Agriculture will update its forecasts at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 9 in Washington.

                2011-2012 Estimates        USDA Estimates
              Average         Range            January
Production     15.5         15.07-15.67         15.67
Exports        11.0         10.85-11.3          11.0
Ending Stocks  3.65           3.4-3.9            3.7


SOURCE                OUTPUT        EXPORTS      ENDING STOCKS
==============================================================
Bondurant              15.67          11.0            3.7
Country Hedging        15.07          10.85           3.85
FCStone                15.5           11.0            3.65
Flanagan               15.48          11.0            3.9
Kropf & Love           15.67          11.0            3.7
Stevens                15.47          11.0            3.5
Texas A&M              15.5           11.0            3.5
Varner Brothers        15.65          11.3            3.4

To contact the reporter on this story: Yi Tian in New York at ytian8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net