NEW YORK, March 21 (Reuters) - U.S. cotton futures finished
easier after late investor profit-taking in subdued dealings on
Monday, backpedaling from a one-week high reached earlier in
the session.

The key May cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. shed
0.16 cent to close at $1.9896 per lb, moving between a low of
$1.9735 an $2.0488, last seen on March 14. The last two
sessions, the contract had risen by the 7-cent daily limit.

Open interest, an indicator of investment exposure in
cotton, stood at 173,119 lots as of March 18, a level that is
still near the lowest since late July 2010, data from ICE
Futures U.S. showed.

Volume traded stood at 14,000 lots, over 55 percent below
the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters preliminary data showed.

'We've gone absolutely nowhere,' said Mike Stevens, an
independent analyst in Louisiana.

He said the market would run into commercial sales and
investment fund profit-taking once the old crop May and July
contracts go above the psychological $2/lb level.

The next bit of information which will provide direction
for cotton futures would be the potential plantings report by
the U.S. Agriculture Department due out on March 31.

That is the first government survey of likely plantings for
major row crops like cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat in 2011.

Despite the rally in cotton, the fiber has to compete for
acreage against similarly high-priced grains this year.

Analytical firm Informa Economics projected on Friday U.S.
farmers will plant 13.13 million acres to cotton , a level
that would be the highest in 5 years.