Cotton hits two-week low on stronger dollar

ICE cotton futures slid to a near two-week low on Friday, pressured by a stronger US dollar, lower export sales reported in a federal weekly report and downbeat sentiment in the grains market, setting them on course for a weekly loss, reports Reuters.

Cotton contracts for July fell 0.5 cents, or 0.7%, to 67.07 cents per lb at 11:33 a.m. ET (1533 GMT), its lowest since March 11.

"The export sales report was weaker than it's been, so that's creating some selling interest and then still a lot of uncertainty over the economic direction of the US and the overall demand profile for cotton," said Jack Scoville, vice president at the Price Futures Group.

The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) weekly export sales report released on Thursday showed a 63% drop in net sales of upland cotton, totaling 101,100 running bales (RB), from the previous week, with exports also falling 13% to 351,000 RB.

The dollar rose against rivals, on pace for its first weekly gain this month, making greenback-priced cotton more expensive for foreign buyers.