NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures rebounded from a near-three-week low hit earlier on Wednesday, supported by a weaker dollar and some mill fixations, ahead of a monthly supply-demand report this week.
Cotton contracts for December settled up 0.18 cent, or 0.3%, at 64.2 cents per lb, after hitting their lowest since Aug. 20 at 63.40.
"There is a very large volume of on-call purchases made by on-call spinners, that'd mean cotton that has been purchased that has not been fixed yet. And that is providing a lot of support," said Ed Jernigan, chief executive of Jernigan Global, a cotton textile supply chain manager.
On Tuesday, cotton prices slipped on a stronger dollar and concerns over US-China trade relations.
US Customs and Border Protection officials have prepared orders to block imports of cotton and tomato products from China's western region of Xinjiang over accusations of forced labour, though a formal announcement has been delayed.
Investors are awaiting the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) weekly export sales report and the WASDE report on Friday.
Meanwhile, USDA's weekly crop progress report on Tuesday showed 45% of the crop was in good/excellent condition, up from last week's 44%.
The pandemic has hammered demand for the natural fibre, while US-China tensions added further pressure, pushing prices over 8% lower so far this year.
Total futures market volume fell by 13,120 to 23,994 lots.