ICE Cotton dips on stronger dollar

ICE cotton futures fell 1% on Friday due to a firmer dollar and weak US export sales data.

* The most active cotton contract on ICE Futures US, the third-month December contract, fell 0.73 cent, or 1.1%, to 65.70 cents per lb by 2:27 p.m. EDT (1827 GMT).

* It traded within a range of 65.68 and 66.63 cents a lb.

* "We are seeing a stronger dollar today and Thursday's export sales report was not good ... people are concerned about the overall demand potential," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

* The dollar index was up 0.5%t on Friday. A stronger greenback makes commodities priced in dollars, such as cotton, more expensive for holders of other currencies.

* The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported on Thursday that net cotton sales were down 59%, while exports were up 17% for the 2018/19 marketing year.

* "The US crop has struggled with an unusually cool and wet spring in Texas and the midsouth, while the southeast has been too hot and dry," British merchant Plexus Cotton said in a research note.

* "The supply pipeline could get tight by the third quarter, since more export sales will be added in the meantime and new crop is delayed," the Plexus research note added.

* The USDA is expected to report its estimates for all cotton planted acres in the United States on June 28.

* Total futures market volume fell by 17,303 to 31,178 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 1,609 to 204,435 contracts in the previous session.

* Certificated cotton stocks <CERT-COT-STX> deliverable as of June 13 totaled 89,643 480-lb bales, up from 88,340 in the previous session.