NEW YORK, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Cotton futures settled
marginally higher Monday in thin trade as the market awaited
Friday's release of a government crop report, analysts said.

Key March cotton futures gained 0.38 cent to finish
at 92.22 cents per lb, moving from 91.54 to 92.80 cents. That
was not too far from the Friday band of 90.92 to 92.27 cents.

Volume traded Monday stood at around 7,700 lots, nearly
two-thirds below the 30-day average, according to ICE Futures
data.

'It's absolutely agonizing,' said Mike Stevens, an
independent cotton analyst in Mandeville, Louisiana. 'The
market's continuing to consolidate right in this area.'

Traders said the market will likely drift until release on
Friday of the U.S. Agriculture Department's monthly
supply/demand report.

USDA is expected to reduce its estimate of U.S. 2011/12
cotton production and of U.S. 2011/12 cotton exports.

USDA had forecast U.S. 2011/12 cotton production at 16.3
million (480-lb bales) in its November supply data, from 16.61
million bales in its preceding month.

Fiber contracts could also drift right through the year-end
holidays, with a pickup in business anticipated by early next
year when the next round of mill buying picks up.

Open interest in the cotton market, usually taken as an
indicator of investor exposure in the market, came to 137,826
lots on Friday, from the prior session's 137,741 lots, exchange
data showed.

Volume traded Friday reached 7,901 lots, ICE Futures U.S.
data reported.