NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures rose on Friday, setting eyes on a weekly gain, as dry and hot weather in top cotton producing US state, Texas raised crop damage concerns, ahead of a much awaited US-China meeting this weekend. Cotton contracts for December rose 0.26 cent, or 0.4%, to 63.25 cents per lb at 1:39 p.m. EDT (1739 GMT) set for a 1.4% rise on a weekly basis. "There's a possibility that China will back off from its agreements in the Phase 1 meeting although it bought a lot of cotton from the US," said John Bondurant, a trader in Memphis, Tennessee, adding that the weather in Texas continues to be hot and dry.

Demand for cotton has been hammered by a hit to the apparel industry due to worldwide coronavirus restrictions, sending prices more than 10% lower so far this year. Total futures market volume fell by 12,119 to 8,651 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 2,863 to 193,081 contracts in the previous session.