Cotton futures slip to near 1-month low as weather turns favorable

ICE cotton futures dipped over 2 percent to a near one-month low on Monday on expectations of favorable weather conditions in regions producing the natural fiber.

The most-active cotton contract on ICE Futures US, July settled down 1.82 cent, or 2.31 percent, at 77.04 cents per lb.

"After weeks of bad weather and expectations that excessive rain would continue to hurt crops, analysts are now expecting the weather in US cotton areas to improve," said Gabriel Crivorot, associate at Societe Generale in New York.

Prices fell to 76.3 cents per lb in the session, the level last seen on March 20.

"Cotton is technically overbought, we are seeing some liquidation," said Louis Rose, director of research and analytics at Tennessee-based Rose Commodity Group.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin raised hopes that an end to the long-drawn trade war between China and the United States was near, saying he hoped trade talks were approaching a final lap.

"Even if a deal (between China and the United States) was imminent, weather could easily be a more important variable since it directly affects the supply of cotton," Crivorot said.

The United States is the world's biggest cotton exporter, while China is the top consumer

Total futures market volume fell by 15,434 to 48,120 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 189 to 216,665 contracts in the previous session.

Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of April 12 totaled 53,421 480-lb bales, up from 52,952 in the previous session.