NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures gained for a fifth straight session on Monday, climbing as much as 4% to a contract-high as funds stepped up purchases and demand from China, the biggest natural fiber consumer, remained steady.

The cotton contract for December rose 1.72 cent, or 1.8%, to 97.71 cents per lb, by 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT).

Earlier, the December contract jumped 4% to hit a contract-high of 99.86 cents per lb.

"You've probably got a good bit of fund buying, the volume is pretty heavy today," said Jim Nunn, owner of Tennessee-based cotton brokerage Nunn Cotton, adding buying from China was also a factor.

"These merchants have a lot of positions open with mills, so they are buying against those using December futures... the market is telling us that you need cotton right now."

On Thursday, the US Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report showed net sales of 345,400 running bales for 2021/2022, were up 21% from the previous week, with increased buying primarily from China.

Nunn added cotton farmers were very happy with prices at these levels and that some grain farmers would "wish that they'd planted a little bit more cotton."

The December contract climbed for a fifth session in a row, its longest gaining streak since early August.

Prices have risen around 5.7% so far this month, having gained in the previous three months as well.

Total futures market volume fell by 2,538 to 59,983 lots. Data showed total open interest rose 8,283 to 271,571 contracts in the previous session.