ICE cotton futures edged up in low-volume trade on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. supply, demand report and export sales data on Thursday.
* The most active ICE cotton contract for July expiry CTc1 CTN8 settled up 0.48 cent, or 0.56 percent, at 85.86 cents per lb.
* The contract traded within a range of 85.18 and 86.04 cents a lb.
* “We are recovering on a chart basis, we got close to support near the 85 area and that seems to have held the least so far today,” said Jack Scoville, vice president with Price Futures Group in Chicago.
* The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report and weekly export sales report are due on Thursday.
* “The U.S. export demand really has been very high this year and there is a chance that we can see USDA increase the export demand and decrease the ending stocks estimates.”
* Market participants are keeping a close watch on rain in Texas, the major cotton-growing region in the United States.
* ICE cotton contract for December expiry CTZ8 rose 0.6 percent to 80.56 cents.
* “Markets are looking a little ahead at the new crop that remains very dry in most of Texas … there are definitely some problems with getting the crop planted in a timely way in West Texas and that’s a huge part of the crop, that has got the market on the edge a little bit as well,” Scoville said.
* Total futures market volume fell by 9,859 to 19,754 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 775 to 286,386 contracts in the previous session.
* Certificated cotton stocks CERT-COT-STX deliverable as of May 08 totaled 72,999 480-lb bales, down from 73,541 in the previous session.
* The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast a near normal Southwest Monsoon for 2018 as per USDA attache.

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