ICE cotton slightly up in short term.

Rabobank expects cotton futures on the Intercontinental Exchange to rise marginally in the short term because of strong demand from overseas markets. Exports are rising despite a decline in stocks in the US. The country exported around 13.7 million bales of cotton in 2016-17. USDA projects cotton exports in 2017-18 at 14 million bales. Weather remains relatively non-threatening for India and the US–key nations in driving higher exportable stocks in 2017-18. Cotton futures are expected to trade at around 77 cents per pound in the short term. July cotton contract on ICE is trading at 78.39 cents a pound, up 1.5% from the previous settlement. cotton prices are likely to decline to 68 cents a pound in the long term due to an increase in acreage as farmers earned higher returns from the crop last year.