NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures declined for the third straight session on Thursday, as a stronger dollar offset support from a federal report that showed robust exports of the natural fibre.

Cotton contracts for May fell 1.04 cents, or 1.2% to 87.41 cents per lb by 1:54 p.m. EST (1854 GMT). It traded within a range of 87.4 to 89.39 cents a lb.

The US dollar advanced 0.7% against a basket of currencies, making the natural fibre more expensive for buyers in other currencies.

“The market has changed from a straight-up bull market to a bit of sideways issue,” said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage in Cleveland.

The market will likely trade between the mid-80 and mid-90 cent level, Varner added, noting that a decrease in ending stocks in the USDA’s World Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report due next week would be perceived as bullish.

Limiting losses of the natural fibre, a weekly export sales report for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed exports of 377,400 RB that were 29% higher than the previous week and 11% above the prior 4-week average.

The report also showed net sales of 169,000 running bales (RB) for 2020/2021 and 40,600 RB for 2021/2022.

Total futures market volume fell by 10,451 to 25,534 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 2,797 to 237,483 contracts in the previous session.—Reuters