Ironically, hot and dry weather, ideal for producing a bumper cotton crop, is the main reason analysts gave for their optimistic forecasts, despite a series of behemoth hurricanes that slammed into the US Southeast and Gulf Coast states.
"The weather has been perfect, the harvest has been going great, yields I'm hearing are bigger than what they thought and they were already huge," said Jobe Moss, an analyst for brokers and merchants MCM Inc in Lubbock, Texas.
"Perfect harvest weather, sunny and dry, pretty much all around," said John Flanagan of Flanagan Trading Corp in explaining his upbeat forecast.
The US Department of Agriculture will release its monthly supply/demand report on Thursday at 8:30 am EDT (1230 GMT).
A Reuters survey of industry analysts produced an average forecast for a US cotton crop of at 23.25 million (480-lb) bales, up from the USDA's estimate of 22.72 million in October and matching the record 23.25 million set in 2004/05.
"It's one of those years when we have a picture perfect crop and everything's gone right and they keep picking more cotton," said Sharon Johnson, cotton analyst at First Capitol Group in Atlanta, Georgia.
The massive storms side-stepped the US cotton crop, leaving plants intact. When Hurricane Katrina came through, most of the cotton bolls were still closed and the plants were protected by their foliage.
If harvest weather is unfavourable, analysts said the picking time is limited, whereas favourable harvest weather allows farmers to maximise their yield.
"Dry is good when you're harvesting. You want that boll to be dry and then crack open, especially the ones on top. The plant grows cotton bolls from the bottom up," Moss explained.
He said the last two bolls to mature sit on top.
"That's where the money is. The rest is just breaking him (the farmer) even and covering his expenses. Every boll as it gets higher on the plant is pure profit," he said.
Moss said last year's crop had risen to a huge 22.55 million bales by October, and this year, "The weather has been substantially better, conducive to maturing and harvesting this crop."
From September to January the USDA updates the progress of US crops, including cotton. November will be the fourth report in the annual series, moving the revised figure closer to an actual count.