Jan 17 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures edged lower on Tuesday
to hit a near two-week low as traders treaded cautiously
following the bearish supply-and-demand report released by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday.
The March cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. hit a
session low of 71.81 cents per lb., the lowest since Jan. 4.

"The market is still suffering from the U.S. government's
world agriculture supply and demand (WASDE) report," said Keith
Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown and Co in
Moultrie, Georgia.

Global and U.S. inventories were seen higher than had been
forecast in December, while consumption was reduced for India,
Mexico and Turkey, mostly offset by an increase for China,
according to the monthly report.

Another concern weighing on the natural fiber market was the
potential impact of President-elect Donald Trump's views on
trade relations with China, Brown said.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday,
Chinese President Xi Jinping cautioned other countries against
blindly pursuing their national interests, in an apparent
reference to the "America first" policies of Donald Trump.

An early morning cotton rally turned into small losses on
Tuesday as grains drew away fund interest, said Gabriel
Crivorot, analyst at Societe Generale in New York.
U.S. soybean futures rose more than 2 percent on Tuesday,
touching a six-month high on worries about excessive rains in
Argentina crimping production prospects, analysts said.
Corn and wheat followed the firm trend, drawing additional
support from a setback in the dollar.

* The March cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S.
settled down 0.16 cent, or 0.22 percent, at 72.11 cents per lb.
It traded within a range of 71.81, the lowest since Jan. 4, and
72.87 cents a lb.
* Total futures market volume rose by 2,558 to 25,155 lots.
Data showed total open interest fell 7 to 262,316 contracts in
the previous session.
* Burkina Faso estimated its production of raw cotton would
rise to 750,000 tonnes in 2016/2017 compared with around 600,000
tonnes in the previous harvest as favourable rainfall boosts
output, the country's agriculture minister said on Monday.
* Ivory Coast exported 329,586 tonnes of cotton from January
through November 2016, down more than 17 percent from the same
period in the previous year, provisional port data showed on
Monday.

(Reporting by Vijaykumar Vedala in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew
Hay)