Price of Cotton records high

|HT|

Cotton futures raced past $1 a pound for the first time in nearly a decade as adverse weather and shipping snags threaten supplies, driving up costs for clothing around the world. Crops in several key-growing countries are seeing problems, from rain-drenched fields in the U.S. to bollworm-infested ones in India. At the same time, cotton buyers need more of the fiber. Mexico and China are buying record amounts. Also causing trouble for supplies are high freight rates and geopolitics, with international backlash about labor violations in Xinjiang, China’s biggest producing region. The U.S. banned imports earlier this year. All of this is coming together to drive up prices, which means the cost of making clothing will be on the rise. That will squeeze margins for apparel makers like Levi Strauss & Co., and result in inflation for everything from T-shirts to jeans if retailers try to pass on the expense to consumers.

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