Dec 11 (Reuters) -ICE cotton futures rose on Monday, helped by speculators covering their short positions, while a firm dollar capped gains for the natural fibre.

* The front-month March contract CTc1 up 0.64 cent, or 0.8%, at 82.08 cents per lb by 12:25 p.m. ET (1725 GMT). Prices were up about 3.9% for last week.

* "Overall, I don't think today's price move is anything more than a short covering rally," said Louis Barbera, partner and analyst at VLM Commodities.

* The dollar index .DXY was 0.2%, making cotton less attractive to buyers holding other currencies. USD/

* "China has been buying cotton over the last two months, it has been pretty good but I think they will continue to buy in more modest amounts," said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage, in Cleveland.

* The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report on Friday projected world consumption for 2023-24 at 1.6 million bales lower due to a 1.0 million bales reduction in China. The world ending stocks was forecast 900,000 bales higher in December.

* In the grain market, soybeans rose on concerns about Brazilian weather while corn was hit by spillover weakness from wheat.

* In the week to Dec. 5, speculators trimmed net short position by 2,265 contracts to 6,268, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed on Friday.

Reporting by Sherin Elizabeth Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri