ICE cotton futures inched up on Wednesday as producers held back on pricing their crops at current levels, which are near the bottom of the recent trading range. The main harvest period will come into full swing in the coming weeks and "growers aren't eager to sell," said Michael Quinn, president and chief executive officer of Carolinas Cotton Growers Co-operative. "Prior to harvest, there's no incentive for them to do anything right here."
December cotton on ICE Futures US settled up by 0.19 cent on Wednesday, a 0.3 percent gain, at 62.71 cents per pound. It traded within a range of 62.29 and 62.93 cents a pound. Total futures market volume fell by 1,179 to 12,567 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 1,033 to 177,418 contracts in the previous session. Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of September 15 totalled 55,907 480-lb bales, down from 57,423 in the previous session. The dollar index was down 0.31 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was up 1.51 percent. The Relative Strength Index in the most-active contract rose to 42.870.