(Reuters) - Chinese state-owned entities Chinatex Corporation Limited and COFCO Resources SA (CRSA) have agreed to pay total fines of $3.3 million over suspected rule violations in trading U.S. cotton futures and options contracts, ICE Futures U.S. said.

Chinatex and CRSA, subsidiaries of Chinese state-owned agriculture conglomerate COFCO, agreed to the fines but neither admitted nor denied the alleged rule violations, the exchange said in a statement released on Wednesday.

The exchange said it found that Chinatex had used the account of an affiliate, COFCO Resources, to establish trading positions in April 2020 that exceeded futures and options position limits for a cotton contract.

“By doing so, Chinatex concealed, in CRSA’s account, a position in cotton that was in excess of the position limits applicable to it at the time of the trades,” ICE said.

The exchange said it also found that Chinatex employees had used a CRSA account to move cotton positions to a Chinatex account by prearranging trades between April to June 2020, in violation of exchange rules.

CRSA, in an emailed statement, referred queries on the matter to the exchange website.

“At this time we would only refer you to the statement available on the ICE website which provides all available information,” said Allan Virtanen, director of communications and sustainability at COFCO Resources SA.

Reporting by Emily Chow in Kuala Lumpur; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Edmund Klamann