Cotton futures rose for the third straight session on Wednesday, after the US government sharply reduced its outlook for world output in the prior session, and strong trade data from top cotton consumer China eased worries in global markets. On Tuesday, prices had pared gains after the US Department of Agriculture lowered its expectations for US consumption, but the focus shifted to the reduction in world production today.

"More of the universal psychology is on the world numbers now than on the US numbers," said Keith Brown, a Moultrie, Georgia-based cotton broker. March cotton on ICE Futures US settled up 0.55 cent, or 0.9 percent, at 62.14 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 61.50 and 62.43 cents a lb.

Total futures market volume fell by 5,310 to 22,609 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 1,063 to 182,594 contracts in the previous session. Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of Jan. 12 totalled 64,142 480-lb bales, unchanged from 64,142 in the previous session. The dollar index was down 0.07 percent. The Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity CRB Index, which tracks 19 commodities, was up 0.19 percent.

Copyright Reuters, 2016