* Market finds floor around 71 cents per lb - analyst
* USDA's weekly export sales report expected on Thursday

NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Cotton prices rose for a second
day on Wednesday on a spate of short-covering as the market
continued to recover ground lost after the U.S. government
forecast inventories will grow to record levels by next July.
The benchmark December cotton contract on ICE Futures
U.S. rose 1.41 percent to settle at 73.11 cents per lb, just off
its intraday high of 73.69 cents.
Some short-covering and timid mill buying have helped the
market establish a floor at 71 cents, analysts said.
"The bearish report took us down on Friday and Monday, but
we held above 71 cents and are building a base," said Mike
Stevens, an independent cotton analyst based in Mandeville,
Louisiana.
The market was awaiting the release of the U.S. Agriculture
Department's weekly export sales report on Thursday, which is
unlikely to show any major purchases as the data will cover the
week prior to the USDA's much-anticipated supply and demand
report last Friday.
The data covers the week to Aug. 9, the day before the
release of the report that forecast waning demand and growing
supplies, which knocked 7 percent off the cotton price over two
days.
Cotton also found support from a renewed rally across
grains.