US cotton nears two-month low on muted demand
April 3 (Reuters) -ICE cotton futures fell to a nearly two-month low on Wednesday, pressured by sluggish demand for the natural fiber.
* Cotton contract for May CTc1 fell 1.48 cent, or 1.63%, at 89.33 cents per lb by 13:12 p.m. ET (1712 GMT).
* "There is weaker demand, and we have concerns that our weekly export sales report tomorrow will show weaker sales, which is driving down the market," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Chicago-based Price Futures Group.
* "We are probably headed a little lower, but we need to see a pick up in demand from Asian areas and we'll see how the Brazil sales go," Scoville added.
* Traders now await Thursday's United States Agriculture Department's (USDA) weekly export sales report.
* Last week, USDA's weekly export sales report showed net sales of 98,200 running bales (RB) for 2023/2024, up 8% from the previous week and 46% from the prior 4-week average. EXP/COT
* Certified cotton stocks, which can be delivered against the contract, were at 88,707 bales compared with 67,576 bales on April 1, according to ICE data.
* Speculators cut net long position by 5,301 contracts to 58,373 contracts in ICE U.S. cotton futures in the week of March. 26.CFTC/
* Elsewhere, USDA raised its forecast for Australia's cotton production in the current season by 200,000 bales to 5 million and said the country would produce 5.5 million bales in the 2024/2025.
Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar
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