NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) - Most U.S. cotton futures
closed lower on Wednesday, in another light-volume session,
before release of a key government plantings report due early
Thursday, brokers said.

Benchmark December cotton on ICE Futures U.S. fell
0.61 cent to finish at $1.2140 per lb, moving from $1.1981 to
$1.2466.

Total market volumes remained depressed, with 10,372 lots
traded late in New York, about half of the 30-day norm, Thomson
Reuters preliminary data showed.

'It looks like another consolidation day before the acreage
report,' said Mike Stevens, an independent cotton analyst in
Louisiana.

He said, the market continued to ignore mixed signals from
outside markets, where another down day in cotton on China's
Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange was countered by broader
strength in the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index.

Most market participants took a cautionary position, ahead
of the annual planted acreage report due from the U.S.
Agriculture Department at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) on
Thursday.

Cotton analysts believe U.S. 2011 cotton sowings will reach
around 13.26 million acres, the highest in five years, as
farmers plant as many acres as they can to offset adverse
growing conditions in much of the South.

Weather conditions in the U.S. Southwest and Texas will
remain dry through Friday, with temperatures well above
normal.

'Extreme heat and drought will have a major impact on
cotton production across West Texas this year, with virtually
no dry land production and reduced irrigated production,'
forecaster Telvent DTN said.

Open interest in the ICE futures cotton market rose by
2,022 lots to 135,984 lots as of June 28, ICE Futures U.S. data
showed.