March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Cotton futures rose for the second straight session on speculation that a slump in prices last week may spur demand from textile mills in Asia.

Prices had fallen as much as 7 percent to 78.7 cents a pound in New York since reaching a two-year high of 84.6 cents on March 1, as mills reduced purchases of high-cost cotton. The International Cotton Advisory Committee expects use of the fiber to rise for a second straight year as the world economy comes out of recession.

“The market is looking at physical demand” around 78 cents a pound, said Andy Ryan, a risk-management consultant at FCStone Group Inc., a broker in Nashville, Tennessee. “There’s big interest in spinning mills” from China, Turkey and other Asian countries, he said.

Cotton futures for May delivery rose 0.29 cent, or 0.4 percent, to 80.76 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. The most-active contract advanced 2.2 percent on March 12.

The commodity is up 89 percent in the past 12 months amid forecasts for lower global output and an increase in consumption.

The price may “bounce back” to the range of 82 cents to 83 cents in the next week, Ryan said. Gains will be limited because “there are some legitimate concerns over getting all the recent sales moving,” he said.