April 26 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures rose on Thursday, helped by a strong U.S. government export sales report released early in the day.

* The most active ICE cotton contract for July expiry CTN8 settled up 0.23 cent, or 0.27 percent, at 84.17 cents per lb.

* It traded within a range of 83.57 cents a lb. and 84.97 cents a lb.

* "We continue to sell cotton into the export market at an unbelievable pace," Ron Lee, general manager at McCleskey Cotton in Bronwood, Georgia, said in a note.

* "The USDA is pegging exports at 15.0 million bales; with 13 more weeks in the marketing year, we have already sold the equivalent of almost 17 million 480-lb statistical bales," Lee said, adding that exports will have to be adjusted higher by the USDA.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported net upland sales of 312,000 running bales for 2017/2018 for the week ended April 19, up 8 percent from the previous week and 9 percent from the prior 4-week average.

* Exports of 421,400 RB for the same period were up 16 percent from the previous week, but down 4 percent from the prior 4-week average. Total futures market volume fell by 8,812 to 23,446 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 1,628 to 263,742 contracts in the previous session.

* Ivory Coast exported 122,464 tonnes of cotton over the first three months of 2018, up more than 3 percent from a year earlier.