Commodities for Friday, May 24, 1985 : Cotton Futures Prices Fall

Cotton futures prices fell Friday on the Cotton Exchange in New York.

Prices fell to new lows midway through the trading session but recovered some of the losses before trading ended.

Much of the selling was based on trends on price charts, said Nauman Barakat, a cotton analyst in New York with Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.

But he said that prices have shown underlying weakness in recent sessions, as the Agriculture Department has projected that consumption will decline this year.

In a recent report, the USDA said exports this year are likely to fall to 5 million bales from 6.5 million bales a year ago, and domestic consumption is likely to fall to 5 million bales from 5.3 million last year.

As a result, the surplus of cotton is expected to increase to 6 million bales from 4 million bales last year.

Cotton settled 0.46 cent to 0.90 cent lower with the contract for delivery in July at 63.72 cents a pound.

Grain and soybean futures prices were lower in very slow trading on the Chicago Board of Trade.