Crop losses not reflected in USDA forecast from two hurricanes reported still being assessed. Field activities moved ahead in South Texas. Upland classing reached 760,259 RB, up from 635,204 a year ago. Ginning continued in the Rio Grande Valley. Heat units built in the Plains.

Cotton futures settled higher Monday, up 28 to 91 points, with December finishing above highs of the previous three sessions.

December gained 43 points to close at 69.50 cents, in the upper half of its 115-point range from down 27 points at 68.80 to up 88 points at 69.95 cents. March posted the largest gain, settling at 68.90 cents, just off the high of its 113-point range from 67.86 to 68.99 cents, and October the smallest on its settlement at 70.41 cents.

Volume rose to an estimated 23,177 lots from 19,023 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 7,452 lots or 39%, EFS 150 lots and EFP 12 lots. Options volume increased to 5,413 lots (2,266 calls and 3,147 puts) from 4,789 lots (3,340 calls and 1,449 puts).

Activities moved forward in South Texas and the Upper Coast cotton fields last week where damage assessments were ongoing from Hurricane Harvey, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service reported.

Some trade estimates of cotton losses in Texas, the Delta and the Southeast from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma not fully reflected in USDA’s September crop forecast have ranged mostly all the way from 800,000 to 1.5 million bales. Quality losses also are expected.

U.S. upland classing of 122,600 running bales for the week through Thursday brought the total for the season to 760,259 RB, up from 635,204 a year ago. Fifty-one gins have submitted samples for grading, 49 of which are in the area served by the Corpus Christi facility.

Tenderable cotton accounted for 83.8% for the week and 88.9% for the season, compared with 69.1% and 81.2%, respectively, a year ago.

Stalks have been cut and shredded in the Rio Grande Valley, AMS said in a weekly review. Ginning continued. Harvesting and ginning had begun in the Blackland Prairies under good weather conditions and approximately 10% was off the stalk.

Early reports indicated that 850 to 1,050 pounds of lint per acre had been harvested. Some producers applied boll openers and defoliants. In the southern Blacklands, some fields were considered a total loss and others were too soggy to support equipment. Some fields damaged by Harvey were expected to be harvested once soils firmed.

The crop in the West Texas Plains made generally good progress under hot, sunny conditions, though growers said some moisture-stressed dryland cotton has shed fruit along with some irrigated cotton where water apparently was shut off too early for near record high temperatures that later developed.

Daytime high temperatures reached 97 degrees on Tuesday, 3 degrees from the date record. Heat units built and some fields began to wilt early in the day. Bolls had begun to pop open and were visible from roadways. Some fields needed rain, but all fields needed heat units to mature the crop before the first freeze.

Verticillium wilt has been reported in some fields. Insect pressure remained light, but fields were monitored for late-season aphids. Some fields were treated for bollworms.

A few growers in the Lubbock area made initial harvest-aid applications. Ginning was expected to begin in the upper High Plains the first and second week of October. Harvest aids were expected to be applied as early as this week in the far northern area.

Futures open interest declined 332 lots to 241,956 on Friday, with December’s down 255 lots to 141,088 and March’s down 269 lots to 71,342. Certified stocks dropped 178 bales to 4,045.