ICE cotton futures rose on Wednesday on bargain hunting after prices hit a more-than one-week low earlier on favourable weather in major growing regions. Cotton contracts for December settled up 0.21 cent, or 0.31 percent, at 67.66 cents per lb, after trading within a range of 66.55 and 67.75 cents a lb. The price of 66.55 cents a lb was the lowest since June 26.
"I think it is cheap enough for people to buy it. There was a bit of pressure on prices due to rains in West Texas," said Peter Egli, director of risk management at British merchant Plexus Cotton. "If you have a big crop then that is going to be felt in the second half of the season," he said. "In the first half the pipeline has to be refilled. December will still be well supported at this range, and I will not short sell December at 66."
The December contract on Friday rose 2 percent to register its biggest one-day percentage rise in over nine months after the US annual acreage report showed US farmers planted slightly less cotton than expected. The US Agriculture Department's Annual Acreage report estimated all cotton planted acres at 12.055 million, below analysts' estimate of 12.278 million acres and the USDA March forecast of 12.233 million.
The projections, however, are 20 percent above USDA's final 2016 figure of 10.075 million. Total futures market volume rose by 2,119 to 23,201 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 191 to 206,118 contracts in the previous session. Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of July 3 totaled 314,036 480-lb bales, up from 313,753 in the previous session.
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