Bharat Govind Gautam  Reuters

Sept 6 (Reuters)ICE cotton futures edged up on Tuesday, pausing after a sharp slide in recent sessions, but a towering dollar prevented any substantial gains and continued to dampen the natural fiber's outlook.

* The December contract on ICE Futures rose 0.15 cents to 103.36 cents per lb as of 11:14 a.m EDT. It fell nearly 13% last week, its worst since late June.

* "The only thing I see with today is a pause in the down move," said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage in Cleveland, Mississippi.

* The dollar hit a fresh two-decade peak on Tuesday, continuing to make U.S. cotton more expensive for customers holding other currencies.

* "The market lost 15 cents in just a week, which is a huge move, and part of that can be attributed to the dollar rising, and part of it to new lockdowns in China," Varner added.

* Likely taking some pressure off cotton prices, China's Shenzhen city eased a COVID-19 lockdown on Monday as infections in its latest outbreak showed signs of stabilising, but most of the 21.2 million residents of Chengdu city faced extended curbs on their movements.

* Elsewhere, Chicago soybean futures lost ground on Tuesday, curbed by weakness in crude oil and expectations of an exchange-rate boost to Argentine exports.

* "Pakistan’s government is allowing the country’s textiles industry to import as much cotton as it needs after the flooding that affected 1/3 of the country destroyed roughly 20% of domestic production, according to the USDA," Commerzbank said in a note.

* "Since the end of August, the price of cotton traded on the ICE has plunged by around 12% amid growing global economic concerns," Commerzbank said, adding that the news from Pakistan, however, could now lend some support.

(Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam in Bengaluru)

((BharatGovind.Gautam@thomsonreuters.com;))