Cotton futures rose on Tuesday as traders awaited a monthly US government supply and demand report, with prices supported by merchant buying amid a broad uptick across the commodities complex ahead of the outcome of the US presidential elections.
The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) World Agriculture Supply and Demand (WASDE) report due on Wednesday could show the US cotton crop down a little bit or unchanged, according to Keith Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia. "Generally most markets are up today so there is something of a sympathy rise today," Brown added. The December cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled up 0.3 cent, or 0.44 percent, at 68.75 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 68.19 and 70.11 cents a lb, its highest since Oct. 31.
The USDA's weekly crop progress report, released on Monday after the market close, showed that 56 percent of cotton crops were harvested in the United States in the week to Nov. 6, compared with 46 percent in the prior week. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was up 0.03 percent.