Cotton prices reached an all-time record yesterday (Monday), due to continued fears that global supplies will far short of the soaring needs in China, which remains the world's biggest consumer and producer.

Cotton for May delivery closed at a record $2.1414 a pound in New York, an increase of 1.44 cents, or 0.70%. It earlier hit the all-time trading high of $2.197 a pound. Yesterday was the seventh straight gain - making for the longest rally since September 2009.

"Demand fundamentals are working themselves out," David Zeanah, a commodity broker at Keith Brown & Co., a brokerage in Georgia told Bloomberg News. "We don't have any cotton; everything you can get your hands on is worth gold right now."

Back in late September, in a column that appeared in Money Morning, former hedge-fund manager Jack Barnes predicted this run-up and outlined a strategy that readers could have turned into a five-month gain of 123%.

In a column that appeared in Money Morning on Friday, Barnes outlined his newest predictions for the global cotton market - and outlined an investment strategy that readers could follow. To read that report - which is available free of charge - please click here.

News and Related Story Links:

• Money Morning Investment Research:
  Cotton Price Forecast: After Our 123% Gain, Here's Our Next Call.
• Bloomberg News:
  Cotton Surges to Record as Supplies Are `Worth Gold' Amid Fiber Shortfall