NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures eased on Monday, pressured by a stronger dollar, as traders continued to assess a projected increase in output in the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) September supply and demand report.

Cotton contracts for December fell 0.85 cent, or 0.9%, to 92.65 cents per lb by 12:47 p.m. EDT (1647 GMT).

“The market is still digesting Friday’s report and today, the increase in production, up from August’ s surprise cut, is weighing, as the USDA made adjustments on planting numbers from earlier in the season,” Bailey Thomen, cotton risk management associate at StoneX Group said.

In its September World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, the USDA projected US production at 18.5 million bales, 1.2 million bales higher than the previous month.

The market will pay close attention to how production pans out until season-end, as well as adverse weather events and changes in the global consumption picture, especially for China, Thomen said.

Tropical storm Nicholas, now about 140 miles (225 km) south of Port O’Connor in Texas with maximum wind speeds of 60 miles per hour, is forecast to reach the northwest Gulf coast as a hurricane. * The dollar index rose on Monday, making cotton more expensive for buyers holding other currencies.

Total futures market volume fell by 19,680 to 13,022 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 289 to 273,007 contracts in the previous session.

Market focus will also be on a weekly crop progress report from the USDA due later on Monday.