NEW YORK, June 14 (Reuters) - U.S. cotton futures settled
higher Tuesday on commercial and investor buying, with spot
July boosted by the perception there will be a receiver for the
contract when it goes into delivery this month, analysts said.

The key December cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S.
rose 0.20 cent to finish at $1.3178 per lb, dealing from
$1.2852 to $1.3208.

The spot July contract climbed 4.59 cents or by 3.0
percent to settle at $1.5554 per lb.

Total volume traded Tuesday reached more than 18,300 lots
at 3:20 p.m. EDT (1920 GMT), over 10 percent above the 30-day
norm, Thomson Reuters preliminary data showed.

Technical liquidation depressed the key December contract
early in the session, but the market rebounded off its lows and
the poor condition of the U.S. cotton crop, especially in the
key growing areas of Texas and Georgia, buoyed fiber
contracts.

The U.S. Agriculture Department's weekly crop progress
report late on Monday showed that Texas, the top cotton growing
state in the country, reported that 44 percent of its cotton
was in poor to very poor condition. Georgia, the second biggest
cotton growing state, showed 46 percent of its crop in poor to
very poor shape.

Some 34 percent, or one-third of the U.S. cotton crop, was
in poor to very poor condition, the USDA said, compared to 4
percent in poor shape at this time last year.

'The poor crop ratings certainly underscored the problems
we got,' said Mike Stevens, an independent cotton analyst in
Louisiana.

Texas is dealing with one of its worst droughts in a
century and a similar dry spell has hit areas of southern
Georgia.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ National Drought Mitigation Center map: http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html Drought hit-Texas could see cotton plantings hit in 2011: http://r.reuters.com/cyq79r <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Texas is due for more dry and hot weather through Sagturday, forecaster Telvent DTN reported. The July contract got a boost from commercial short-covering as players said a major cotton merchant will likely be the main receiver when the contract goes into delivery next week. Tight deliverable supplies for the July contract has also combined with the covering to boost the spot month, the dealers said.