Dec 18 (Reuters) -ICE cotton futures dipped to a near two-week low on Monday, pressured by lower demand from mills while farmers seek to take advantage of any brief price spikes.

* The March contract CTc1 fell 0.24 cent, or 0.3%, to 79.69 cents per lb at 11:48 a.m. ET (1648 GMT) after dropping as much as 0.8% earlier.

* "You don't hear any talk about a whole lot of new business going on," said Jim Nunn, owner of Tennessee-based cotton brokerage Nunn Cotton, noting that on-call positions for mills were at their lowest in several years.

* On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly sales report showed net sales of 57,800 running bales of cotton for 2023/2024 were down 50% from the previous week and down 77% from the prior four-week average. EXP/COT

* Prices were also weighed down by a firmer U.S. dollar, making the natural fiber more expensive for overseas buyers. USD/

* "If farmers are ready to sell on any rallies, some of your market games will be limited by hedging pressure from farmer sales," Nunn added.

* Speculators reduced their bearish bets on ICE cotton by 4,885 contracts to 1,383 in the week to Dec. 12, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data on Friday. CFTC/

* Elsewhere, Chicago soybeans and corn fell with more rain forecast for dry crops in Brazil, while ICE raw sugar futures also headed toward last week's 8-1/2 month lows. GRA/ SOF/L

Reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta