OREANDA-NEWS. ICE cotton dropped to a more than three-week low on Monday, falling for the eighth straight session as traders awaited the results of a monthly supply and demand report and sell-stops triggered below the prior session's low exaggerated losses.

The most-active May cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S.

fell 0.72 cent, or 1.1 percent, to settle at 62.25 cents a lb, after falling as low as 62.05 cents, the lowest level since Feb. 12. It was the first time the second-month fell for eight consecutive sessions since May 2014.

The drop came as traders looked ahead to the release of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) monthly supply and demand report, due out on Tuesday. They were particularly focused on whether the USDA would again raise its expectation for U.S. exports during the 2014/15 crop year, which ends in July.

"We would definitely need to see the USDA cut the carry-out to rejuvenate the market," said Keith Brown, proprietor and cotton trader at Keith Brown and Co in Moultrie, Georgia.

A strong dollar and a weak U.S. export sales report last week continued to weigh on the market, Brown said. A stronger dollar weights on greenback-traded commodities like cotton by making them more expensive to holders of other currencies.

The market hit sell-stops around 62.50 cents a lb, the prior session's low, exaggerating losses.

Monday marked the last trading day for the March cotton contract , with 9,948 certified bales in warehouses and 15 lots, or around 1,500 bales, of open interest in the contract as of Friday, according to the most recent ICE data.