ICE cotton futures edged higher on Wednesday, supported by mill buying ahead of the weekly export sales report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Cotton contract for May rose 0.18 cent, or 0.3%, to 61.59 cents per lb as of 2:19 p.m. EDT (1819 GMT). It traded within a range of 61.31 and 61.94 cents a lb.
“We've seen quite a bit of value being found at these levels from the mill side," said Bailey Thomen, cotton risk management associate with INTL FCStone.
Cotton prices have dropped more than 11% so far this year and hit a 5-month low at the end of last month on lingering concerns over demand for the natural fiber as the virus outbreak intensified.
“I think the cotton market is cheap enough. … We are anticipating some strong demand," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Chicago-based Price Futures Group.
Risk sentiment among investors diminished after the World Health Organization classified the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic, sending US stock indexes more than 4% lower.
The United States said on Tuesday stimulus measures to safeguard the economy from the fallout of the outbreak could include a tax relief but did not offer concrete details.
More than 119,100 people have been infected by the coronavirus across the world and 4,298 have died, the vast majority in China, according to a Reuters tally.
“Unless the stock market really makes a breakout one way or another, we are probably going to be stuck in the water here on the grains and cotton side," Scoville added.
Investors are awaiting USDA's weekly export sales report due on Thursday.
Exports for the week ended Feb. 27, touched a marketing year high of 478,200 running bales (RB) and included 73,400 RB from China.
Total futures market volume fell by 9,258 to 26,919 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 164 to 210,796 contracts in the previous session.
Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of March 11 totalled 39,758 480-lb bales, up from 39,670 in the previous session.