Cotton futures jump over 1pc on hopes for more Chinese demand

ICE cotton futures climbed more than 1% on Tuesday after a federal report highlighted low crop quality in major US growing regions, while anticipation of higher imports from China lent further support.

Cotton contracts for December rose 0.75 cent, or 1.2%, at 63.55 cents per lb at 1:40 p.m. EDT (1740 GMT), which could be its biggest daily gain in one week.

"The weather in west Texas remains extremely dry and it's still impacting production over there," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Chicago-based Price Futures Group, adding a weaker dollar was adding further support.

"Weaker US dollar is promoting ideas of better demand which we really need because demand up until now has been pretty bad... Apparently, the Chinese are a major buyer and we're hoping for more business from them for sure."

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) weekly crop progress report on Monday showed 42% of the crop in good/excellent condition, compared with 56% a year ago.

Boosting optimism around demand, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said China is continuing to buy US goods and particularly commodities under the US-China Phase 1 trade deal.

Markets now await USDA's monthly supply and demand report on Wednesday and a meeting between the United States and China to review their Phase 1 trade deal on Aug. 15.

The impact of the prolonged US-China dispute, along with demand drop due to a global virus pandemic, has contributed to a fall of more than 9% in natural fiber prices so far this year.

Total futures market volume fell by 11,092 to 11,821 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 1,311 to 190,897 contracts in the previous session.