Looks like all those clothing manufacturers are going to have raise prices in the next hour or two, seems like there is no let up in how high Cotton prices are moving, its already up, GET THIS, 21% YTD and has risen 90% in the last year alone!!!!! WOW!!!! New York cotton ends at 150-year top NEW YORK (February 10, 2011) : US cotton futures ended Wednesday at a 150-year high on investment fund and speculative buying in heavy volume with momentum expected to push prices higher in the days ahead, analysts said. The runaway cotton market is the best performing commodity in the Reuters-Jefferies commodity index, having risen 21 percent year to date. Last year, cotton was also the top performer in the commodity index as it rallied 90 percent. The key March cotton contract on ICE Futures US increased 5.29 cents or by 3.0 percent to conclude at $1.8058 per lb, a record settlement close for the market. The contract traded from $1.7367 to $1.8229, a fresh record intra-day mark. Total volume hit some 44,100 lots, more than double the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters preliminary data showed. "I think it is spec-related buying," said Sharon Johnson, senior cotton analyst with brokerage Penson Futures in Atlanta, Georgia. She said cotton may have seen some high-frequency dealings from algorithmic traders who rapidly go in and out of the market, making money on fractional differences in contracts such as cotton. Lou Barbera, cotton analyst at brokers VIP Commodities, said part of the push in the market also came from panic mill buying. He said the momentum of the rally in cotton could eventually see the July cotton contract hit the psychological $2 per lb level in the months ahead. Analysts said the market barely reacted to the US Agriculture Department's monthly supply/demand report since there were no major changes in the data. The market will now turn its attention to the USDA's weekly export sales report on Thursday to see if demand is being affected by the rally in the market. Once the report is done, the market will be looking toward next month's USDA potential plantings report on March 31 to see if high cotton prices spurred more cotton sowings in 2011. Industry group the National Cotton Council of America said US 2011 cotton plantings will likely reach 12.5 million acres. Most analysts feel the number is much higher because the NCC survey was conducted before the current rally in the cotton market. A Reuters survey at the Beltwide Cotton conference this month had forecast US 2011 cotton plantings from 12.48 million to 12.53 million acres, a 5-year high and an increase of around 15 percent from last year's cotton sowings of 11.04 million acres.