NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures gained on Monday, hovering below a near four-week peak hit in the previous session, supported by an easing dollar and disadvantageous weather conditions in the major growing regions.
Cotton contracts for December rose 0.12 cent, or 0.1%, to 86 cents per lb by 12:27 pm EDT (1627 GMT). On Friday, the contract rose to its highest since May 10 at 86.85 cents.
“We continue to have adverse weather in many parts of the cotton belts. It’s still hot and dry in South Georgia, parts of the Carolinas are in a drought situation, West Texas is probably overly wet,” said Keith Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown in Georgia.
With poor conditions in Brazil and India, the United States will likely be the main residual supplier, although the market is going to have to come to grips with limited supply and trade higher, Brown added.
The dollar fell 0.2%, making cotton cheaper for buyers holding other currencies.
Investors now eye a weekly crop progress report by the US Department of Agriculture later in the day and a monthly federal supply and demand report this week.
On the consumption side, “chances of demand being stronger in the United States is better than elsewhere, (although) the catalyst for a move will still have to come from weather,” Judy Ganes, a US-based soft commodities analyst said.
Speculators raised net long positions in cotton futures by 2,148 contracts to 44,242 in week to June 1, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.
Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of June 4 totalled 160,287 480-lb bales, up from 146,886 in the previous session.
Total futures market volume fell by 26,174 to 20,245 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 387 to 231,641 contracts in the previous session.
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