Exercised options totaled 8,548 calls and 49,042 puts. Growers have contracted about 17% of their upland acres. All-cotton classing of 3.76 million bales amounted to 50% of the year-ago total.
Cotton futures settled mixed for the second session in a row Monday, confined to trading ranges inside those of Friday.
Most-active December edged up nine points to close at 76.97 cents, just below the midpoint of its 117-point range from down 41 points at 76.47 to up 76 points at 77.64 cents.
Most-liquid March dropped 44 points to settle at 78.20 cents, in the lower quarter of its 106-point range from up 44 points at 79.08 to down 62 points at 78.02 cents.
Volume quickened to an estimated 46,400 lots from 41,849 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 24,646 lots, EFS 6,145 lots and EFP 15 lots. Options volume slowed to 2,259 lots — 677 calls and 1,582 puts.
Exercised with the expiration of December options were 8,548 calls and 49,042 puts. Though the vast majority of the exercised options already had been offset, the ratio likely resulted in some net buying on Monday, an analyst said.
U.S. upland growers had forward contracted about 17% of their expected acreage by Nov. 1, up from 14% booked through the corresponding period last season.
The new USDA estimates are based on the National Agricultural Statistics ServiceΆs acres-for-harvest data and informal surveys by the cotton division of the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Contracting has been most active in the Southeast at 36%, against 17% a year ago, and has totaled 17% in the Mid-South, down from 33%; 4% in the Southwest, down from 5%; and 3% in the West, down also from 5%.
These estimates donΆt include cotton consigned to marketing organizations but do include cotton contracted with those groups.
The USDAΆs November crop report left the upland acres-for-harvest estimate unchanged from the September forecast at 7.582 million but raised the projected yield 13 pounds to 790, still below the five-year average of 804 pounds. Estimated abandonment remained at 2.554 million acres or 25%.
Upland production prospects rose by 206,000 bales to 12.479 million, down from 16.535 million bales last season.
Meanwhile, U.S. all-cotton classing increased to 1,224,477 running bales during the week ended Thursday from 913,777 bales the week before. This brought the total for the season to 3,755,076 bales, only 50% of the 7,507,527 bales classed a year ago.
Upland classing of 1,165,305 bales boosted the upland total for the season to 3,586,850 bales, down from 7,337,526 bales graded last year.
Cotton tenderable on futures contracts improved to 63.2% for the week and 60.6% for the season. A year ago, 54.1% classed for the season met tenderable quality requirements.
Futures open interest fell 12,450 lots Friday to 182,795, with DecemberΆs down 16,994 lots to 64,975 and MarchΆs up 3,261 lots to 86,034. Certificated stocks grew 3,801 bales to 176,535. Cotton awaiting review dipped to 42,224 bales.
World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index eased 10 points Monday morning to 84.95 cents. The premium over FridayΆs futures settlements narrowed 22 points to 8.07 cents over December and widened 12 points to 6.31 cents over March.
