NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Cotton futures settled higher
Wednesday as the market rebounded from a 10-month low as
investors tweaked their positions before release of a key crop
report tomorrow, analysts said.

The key December cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S.
added 2.00 cents to finish at 97.80 cents per lb, trading from
95.76 to 99.03 cents. It was an inside day since the range was
within Tuesday's 93.72 cents to $1.039 range.

On Tuesday, the contract finished at 95.80 cents in the
lowest settlement for the second position cotton contract since
the middle of September 2010, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Total volume traded hit almost 10,000 lots, around a third
below the 30-day norm, Reuters data said.
'It's short-covering ahead of the report,' said Jobe Moss,
an analyst for brokers and merchants MCM Inc. in Lubbock,
Texas.

The market is looking forward to the U.S. Agriculture
Department's monthly supply report on Thursday, the first for
the 2011/12 marketing year (August/July).

Analysts said the focus will mainly be on whether USDA
adjusts its demand forecasts lower.

A Thomson Reuters poll expected domestic cotton production
in 2011/12 would be cut to an average of 15.29 million (480-lb)
bales, down 15.5 percent from last season's 18.1 million bales
crop.

Total volume traded Tuesday hit 18,734 lots, from the prior
session's 15,546 lots, ICE Futures U.S. data showed.

Open interest was at 142,543 lots as of Aug. 9, against the
previous session's 142,813 lots, exchange figures showed.