NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures edged down for a third straight session on Wednesday pressured by a firmer US dollar, but caution ahead of key federal demand and supply data kept prices oscillating in a narrow range.

Cotton contracts for July fell 0.09 cents, or 0.1%, to 87.08 cents per lb, by 12:28 p.m. EDT (1628 GMT). It traded within a range of 86.8 and 87.94 cents a lb.

The US dollar remained firm, affecting cotton demand from buyers holding other currencies and weighing slightly on prices.

The focus is on planting season and participants are “anxious to see how the USDA will project domestic and world crops for the upcoming marketing year in the May WASDE report,” Louis Rose, director of research and analytics at Tennessee-based Rose Commodity Group, said in a note. The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is due a week from now on May 12.

“The market is pausing and waiting for some news on plantings and getting the crop going,” said Sid Love, commodity trading adviser at Kansas-based Sid Love Consulting.

In terms of rains, “the old traditional delta cotton belt is doing a lot better, it’s just West Texas I’m worried about,” Love added.

Additionally, weekly export sales numbers from the USDA are due on Thursday, although some analysts have maintained that market reaction to that report was likely to be relatively muted.

A key factor is “the impact of the coronavirus situation in India on their production and/or consumption” especially the effect on mills in cities that are currently under lockdowns, and the same is true for the extremely dry weather in Brazil,” Love added.

Infections in top producer and key consumer India continue to surge with several major cities under mandatory curbs.