NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures rose more than 1% on Tuesday as dry weather in top cotton producing state Texas drove concerns of crop damage and as investors covered short positions.Cotton contracts for July rose 0.35 cent, or 0.6%, at 60.41 cents per lb by 2:04 p.m. EDT (1804 GMT).The contract hit a high 1.8% at 61.15 cents earlier in the session. "We are seeing a short covering rally as the market was taken to its negative extreme. Along with that, Texas is getting into a drought situation," said Keith Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia.Major US cotton-growing regions, and Texas especially, are undergoing a dry spell that could harm production.Cotton prices have slid about 13% so far this year, having slumped to the lowest in over a decade on April 1, mostly due to uncertainty over demand for the natural fiber amid lockdowns and restrictions due to the coronavirus.In the latest escalation threatening to strain ties further between Washington and Beijing, two sources told Reuters China told state-owned firms to halt large-scale US soybean and pork purchases. One of the sources said state purchases of US corn and cotton had also been put on hold.Recently, US cotton has also faced competition from cheaper fiber from Brazil and India."Brazil has become the ground zero for coronavirus and their exports are a bit off," Brown said. "If that continues, China will be forced to buy some cotton from the United States." The United States is the biggest exporter of cotton, while China its largest consumer.Total futures market volume fell by 27,310 to 34,261 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 4,073 to 188,381 contracts in the previous session.New York cotton NEW YORK: The following were the fluctuations observed during the day:
================================================================================ Current Session Prior Day Open High Low Last Time Set Chg Vol Set================================================================================Jul'20 60.30 61.15 60.00 60.39 12:43 - 0.33 17665 60.06 June 02Oct'20 59.18 59.63 59.18 59.41 10:17 - 0.84 7 58.57 June 02Dec'20 58.72 59.70 58.70 59.52 12:43 - 0.81 14265 58.71 June 02================================================================================