N.Y Soft Commodities; Cotton Lower

May Cotton is trading a bit lower early Wednesday . May Cotton futures are trading 59.35 down 0.21. Merchant buying has helped support prices in recent days, export sales have provided some support to the cotton market. Expected declines in U.S planting areas due to lower prices area pretty much off-set by heavy world supplies. On January 26th the CBO ( Congressional Budget Office) released estimates for this year's cotton plantings. They expect plantings to be 9.75 million acres vs.11.04 in 2015, with a yield at 805 pounds per acre vs. 795 pounds per acre in 2015. Ending stocks are looked at being near 4.31 million bales vs. 4.70 million bales last year.