NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures fell 1% on Tuesday, set for their biggest daily decline in three weeks, after a federal report showed steady progress in the harvest.
Cotton contracts for December fell 0.69 cent, or 1.1%, to 65.00 cents per lb, at 1:10 p.m. EDT (1710 GMT), on track to post their biggest daily percentage loss since Sept. 8.
"We are about three weeks early on harvest so, you are going to have some of that pressure. As the crops come off people are more inclined to sell upside," said Louis Barbera, partner and analyst at VLM Commodities LTD.
The contract had risen to a near two-week high of 66.60 in the previous session.
The US Department of Agriculture's weekly crop progress data, on Monday, showed that 13% of the cotton crop was harvested in the United States as of the week ended Sept. 27, up from 11% in the preceding week.
However, the report also showed that only 43% of cotton was in good/excellent condition, down from 45% in the preceding week.
A fall in quality would probably be friendly for the market but it was known from the recent storms that there was going to be some deterioration in condition, Barbera said, adding that the market would catch up as the dollar weakened.
The dollar fell to a one-week low against key rivals, having touched a two-month high in the previous week.
Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of Sept. 28 totaled 14,518 480-lb bales, up from 12,155 in the previous session.
Total futures market volume fell by 3,635 to 17,989 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 989 to 221,618 contracts in the previous session.
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