Cotton holds ground as focus turns to WASDE report
Oct 10 (Reuters) -ICE cotton futures were little changed on Wednesday as investors held back from making big bets ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) monthly supply-demand report.
* Cotton contracts for December CTZ4 was up 0.14 cent, or 0.2%, at 72.38 cents per lb at 12:22 p.m. EDT (1622 GMT).
* "Everybody is waiting around for the USDA report tomorrow. As far as expectations for tomorrow go, looks like we're looking for a little bit smaller production and a reduction in export demand," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Chicago-based Price Futures Group.
* Focus will be on USDA's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report due at 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday.
* Meanwhile, USDA's weekly export sales report showed net sales of upland cotton totaling 89,600 running bales for 2024/2025, down 7% from the previous week and 12% from the prior 4-week average. EXP/COT
* "The sales report was pretty poor, that's been a feature for a while and it appears to be pretty much factored in... we'll have to look for some new demand and right now it's hard to see where that's coming from, so hopefully it'll show up," Scoville said.
* Offering some support to cotton, oil prices climbed about 2% on a spike in U.S. fuel use before Hurricane Milton barrelled across Florida, Middle East supply risks and signs that demand for energy could grow in the U.S. and China. O/R
* Higher oil prices make cotton-substitute polyester more expensive.
* Elsewhere, Chicago wheat extended gains to a one-week high as traders awaited an official update on Russia's harvest after adverse weather and assessed rumours that the country may curb its massive exports. GRA/
Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber
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