Mills priced a net total of 180,600 bales to trim their unfixed position to 13.721 million bales from a record high. Freeze warning monitored in Texas Plains.
Cotton futures traded to marginal closing gains across the board Friday, unable to sustain momentum in either direction.
December closed up a single point to 68.20 cents, just above the midpoint of its tight 69-point range from up 30 points at 68.49 to down 39 points at 67.80 cents. It posted a five-session low high and a four-session low.
March settled up five points at 68.11 cents, trading within a 52-point span between 68.21 and 67.69 cents. For the week, December gained 132 points and March 134 points.
Fresh gains in the U.S. dollar index may have helped to keep cotton rallies in check, while scale-down mill fixations offered support. West Texas Intermediate crude oil traded up $1.31 or 2.49% to $53.95.
Volume dipped to an estimated 21,164 lots from 24,263 lots the prior session when spreads accounted for 11,151 lots or 46%, EFP 447 lots and EFS 19 lots. Options volume slowed to 4,875 lots (2,512 calls and 2,363 puts) from 6,196 lots (1,971 calls and 4,225 puts).
Mills priced a net total of 1,806 on-call lots (180,600 bales) last week, reducing their unfixed position to 137,210 lots (13.721 million bales) from a record high, according to data reported by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission after the close Thursday.
Producers priced a net 619 lots to trim their total unpriced position to 36,656 lots. The overall net call difference declined 1,187 lots to 100,554, which was a little changed 44.1% of the falling open interest.
Last year, unpriced positions were 85,551 lots (8.555 million bales) for mills and 24,100 lots for producers for a net difference of 61,451 lots, 23.83% of the open interest.
In spot December, mills priced 4,182 lots and producers priced 1,619 lots, cutting their unpriced positions to 22,149 and 14,361 lots, respectively. This reduced the net difference by 2,563 lots to 7,788, 6.58% of the declining open interest, down from 8.39%.
With 23 trading sessions left at the time until first notice day, the unpriced mill position outweighed that of producers by 1.54:1, compared with 1.94:1 a year ago.
On the weather scene, a widespread freeze warning has been issued for the Texas High Plains from midnight Friday to 10 a.m. CDT Saturday. A low of 28 degrees now is forecast Friday night at Lubbock, the first freeze of the season there ahead of the normal date of Oct. 31.
Lows mostly in the 20s are forecast for most of the High Plains and in the upper 20s to lower 30s across the Rolling Plains. A chance for showers is seen for Tuesday.
Harvesting often has hit a peak on the High Plains about 10 days to two weeks following the first widespread killing freeze, depending upon weather conditions.
Futures open interest declined 1,438 lots to 231,362 on Thursday, with December’s down 2,779 lots to 112,332 and March’s up 1,003 lots to 77,731. Speculative longs have been concentrated in December.
Stocks in deliverable position dwindled to 2,031 bales, down bales from the previous day and 64 bales from a week ago. Demand for high grades thus far has precluded any rebuilding of the small certified stocks.
Source: Agfax