US cotton futures ended lower Tuesday on investor sales as the market dropped for the third straight session, with most players waiting for release of a key government plantings report this week, analysts said. The key May cotton contract on ICE Futures US fell 2.61 cents to end at $1.9488 per lb, dealing from $1.941 to $2.01.
"We're just marking time till the numbers go out," said Keith Brown, president of commodity firm Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia. Total volume traded in the cotton market was around 14,200 lots, almost 50 percent below the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters preliminary data showed.
The level of investor interest remained near a six-week high as open interest stood at 180,249 lots as of March 28, ICE Futures US data showed. Traders said players are tweaking market positions before the US Agriculture Department hands out its annual potential plantings report on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT).
A Thomson Reuters survey showed US cotton sowings are expected to reach a five-year high of around 13.21 million to 13.24 million acres, up almost 20 percent from the 11.04 million acres planted in 2010. The recent rally in cotton prices to record highs may not be enough to push US cotton sowings beyond a five-year high set in 2006. The USDA report is the first government survey of likely plantings for major row crops in 2011.
"Once the acre number is published, the market will need to turn its attention to planting weather. Right now, West Texas is extremely dry and needs a spring rain to germinate seeds that get planted," said a daily commentary by brokers Flanagan Trading Corp. Texas is the biggest cotton growing state in the country.