Rewrites throughout to add details from WASDE report and comment, and update prices
June 9 (Reuters) -ICE cotton futures were little changed on Friday after a federal monthly supply-demand report forecast both increased production and higher exports.
* The front-month July cotton contract CTc1 was unchanged at 84.23 cents per lb.
* The December contract CTz3 rose 0.34 cent, or 0.4%, to 81.97 cents per lb, by 13:00 EDT (1700 GMT). It traded in a tight range of 81.35 and 82.17 cents a lb.
* The 2023/24 U.S. cotton projections compared to last month show lower beginning stocks, but higher production, exports and ending stocks, the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.
* The report is just flat as it suggests increased production numbers, along with increased exports, said Jim Nunn, owner of Tennessee-based cotton brokerage Nunn Cotton.
* "The USDA interestingly increased production from India and Brazil. And in light of export sales data, also indicated increased Chinese imports," Nunn said.
* On Thursday, the USDA in its weekly export sales report showed net sales of 480,400 running bales (RB) for 2022/2023 — a marketing-year high. EXP/COT
* The WASDE report also raised 2023/24 world trade projections by 900,000 bales on increased U.S. exports and China imports.
* "Projected abandonment in the Southwest (U.S.) has been reduced due to recent favorable rainfall, resulting in a production increase of 1.0 million bales to 16.5 million," the WASDE report said.
* On the weather front, a U.S. government forecaster on Thursday confirmed that El Nino conditions were present.
* For the U.S., this should bring "greater-than-average rainfall across the Belt during the growing season. Still, it remains dry across most of the Belt", Rose Commodity Group wrote in a note.
* In the grains market, Chicago soybean futures rose on a drop in total production in top exporter Argentina. GRA/
Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar