Jan 10 (Reuters) -ICE cotton eased on Wednesday following a pullback in the grains markets, but prices traded in a relatively tight range as traders positioned for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's supply-demand projections due on Friday.

* Cotton contracts for March CTc1 fell 0.67 cent, or 0.8%, to 80.06 cents per lb by 11:42 a.m. ET (1642 GMT). Prices have shuffled in a tight range between 79 cents and 82 cents since Christmas.

* Traders awaited the USDA's weekly export sales data due on Thursday and the year's first World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report due on Friday. EXP/COT USDA/EST

* "It's a bit of a risk-off day across other commodities. We see grains markets are down just a little... there could be some repositioning going on by the funds ahead of Friday's WASDE report," said Bailey Thomen, cotton risk management consultant at StoneX Group.

* Chicago soybean futures fell with forecasts of more rain in Brazil this week likely to further improve the maturing oilseed crop, and wheat and corn also lost ground. GRA/

* The natural fiber retreated even as the dollar ticked 0.1% lower. A weaker greenback makes U.S. cotton less expensive for overseas buyers. USD/

* "The dollar is generally staying sideways as is cotton. So they're both stabilizing, but the dollar is not having a huge influence on cotton for now," Thomen said.

* Brazilian crop agency Conab slightly lifted its outlook on the South American country's 2023/24 cotton output to 3.099 million tons, up from its prior forecast of 3.061 million tons but still below the 3.173 million tons harvested in 2022/23.

Reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber