Cotton prices were little changed, erasing gains as the global ecession cut demand for the fiber. Global cotton use will drop 5.5 percent to 116.59 million bales in the year through July 31, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Dec. 11. A bale weighs 480 pounds (218 kilograms). Funds that follow commodity indexes have cut bets on rising prices in five of the past six weeks, pushing so-called long positions in the week ended Dec. 9 to the lowest since April 2006, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. ??There is not much buying of physical product that would result in futures buying,?? said Andy Ryan, a risk-management consultant for FCStone in Nashville, Tennessee. ??I think there was some index-fund selling.?? Cotton futures for March delivery fell 0.02 cent to 44.14 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Earlier, the price climbed as much as 1.1 percent as the dollar dropped, boosting the appeal of U.S. goods. The fiber has declined 35 percent this year. Most-active futures have traded from 42.76 cents to 44.99 cents in the past five sessions. ??The market is moving sideways and moves on little volume,?? Ryan said. China, the world??s biggest consumer of the fiber, will use 49.5 million bales of cotton in the year ending July 31, down from 51 million bales projected in November, the USDA has said. China??s textile industry, the world??s biggest supplier of clothing and shoes, faces worsening operating conditions, and a growing number of textile makers will go bankrupt, cut labor use or be forced into mergers, China Textile Engineering Society Executive Vice Chairman Bi Guodian said on Dec. 12.