NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures edged down on Wednesday as favourable weather in the cotton growing regions of the southern United States is expected to help the crop, while investors were awaiting a federal export sales report.

Cotton contracts for May settled down 0.41 cent, or 0.5%, at 86.51 cents per lb.

It traded within a range of 86.22 and 87.54 cents a lb.

“The weather is getting better in the (US) south with a lot of rains so, there is going to be excellent planting conditions once spring rolls up,” said Jack Scoville, vice president at Chicago-based Price Futures Group.

However, the dollar was down 0.4% against key rivals, limiting some downside in cotton prices.

A weaker dollar makes greenback-denominated cotton cheaper for investors holding other currencies.

Investors are currently awaiting the US Department of Agriculture’s weekly export sale report, due on Thursday.

Demand for cotton is still pretty good and with the economy expected to recover, especially in the United States, consumer demand will strengthen, said Peter Egli, director of risk management at British merchant Plexus Cotton.

Total futures market volume fell by 2,211 to 15,200 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 757 to 232,116 contracts in the previous session.