* USDA raises world 2012/13 stocks to 74.51 mln bales
* Increase caused by rise in Chinese beginning stocks

June 12 (Reuters) - Cotton futures dropped Tuesday on speculative sales
after a federal government crop report showed world cotton ending stocks rising
to a record for the 2012/13 season, analysts said.
The U.S. Agriculture Department's monthly supply report released Tuesday
forecast world 2012/13 (August/July) cotton ending stocks at a record 74.51
million (480-lb) bales, up 1.03 percent from last month's estimate of 73.75
million bales.
The benchmark December cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. fell 1.25
cents, or 1.8 percent, to 68.04 cents per lb at 8:47 a.m. EDT (1247 GMT),
dealing between 67.96 and 69.50 cents.
"The ending stocks are still an albatross, a millstone for market bulls,"
said independent cotton analyst Mike Stevens in Mandeville, Louisiana.
Sharon Johnson, senior cotton analyst at Knight Futures in Atlanta, said the
rise in world ending stocks pressured cotton. "It certainly adds to the bearish
tone (in cotton)," she said.
But Johnson pointed out that the increase was fueled mainly by an upward
revision in Chinese beginning stocks to 27.33 million bales from 24.58 million
bales in last month's USDA report.
And since the Chinese are the only ones who have access to those stocks, the
overall impact should be muted going forward, Johnson concluded.
U.S. cotton figures were seen by analysts as neutral to the market since
production was left unchanged at 17 million bales.
Volume on Tuesday reached slightly over 7,000 lots at 8:54 a.m., exchange
data showed.