About 80% of the crop in the Lubbock area estimated off the stalk and about 60% expected to be graded by tonight. Quality has remained good.
Cotton futures settled with a moderate loss near midrange Wednesday after setting the dayΆs price span in the early going.
Benchmark March closed off 70 points to 78.44 cents, 100 points off the low of its 189-point range from up 19 points at 79.33 to down 170 points at 77.44 cents. Maturing December fell 110 points to 76.75 cents.
Volume dipped to an estimated 19,000 lots from 19,781 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 8,047 lots or 41%. Options volume totaled 2,533 calls and 2,329 puts.
Harvesting is expected to resume in parts of the Texas High Plains later this week after a wintry mix of rain, sleet and up to 8 to 10 inches of snow in the northern area halted field activity throughout the region last weekend. Some growers in the north still were unsure when they could get back into the fields.
Kenny Day, head of the Lubbock classing facility, said estimates indicate 80% or more of the crop in his territory is off the stalk. Sample receipts have slowed to about 25,000 to 30,000 a day from 37,000 to 38,000 prior to the snow.
Dry and improving harvest conditions under sunny to mostly sunny skies through at least early next week are expected to facilitate a bleaching effect on cotton that might have been discolored by recent weather.
Quality has remained good on the 1.091 million running bales classed through Tuesday night, Day said, though the amount of lower mikes — a measure of fiber fineness or maturity — has been rising.
Micronaire or mike readings averaged 3.6 for the week ended Nov. 21 and 3.66 for the season, within the base range of 3.5-4.9. But mikes below 3.5 totaled 37.6% for the week and 33.4% for the season.
Color grades have remained high, with 93% grading 31 (middling) and higher for the week and 84% at the top of 21 (strict middling) and 11 (good middling). A smattering of light spots included 4.5% of 22 and 12.
Leaf grades averaged 2.76, staple lengths 35 (1-3/32nds inches) and longer totaled 84.1%, bark comprised 20.8%, strength averaged 34.3 and average uniformity was 79.91.
About 60% of the estimated crop in the Lubbock territory was expected to be classed by Wednesday night and around 57% in the Lamesa area. Gins north and west of Lubbock have almost caught up with receipts.
The Lubbock and Lamesa offices are expected to class about 1.9 million and 700,000 bales, respectively, for a total of 2.6 million bales this season. The area served by the two offices is larger than that in the High Plains crop districts of 1-North and 1-South, and production estimates thus arenΆt directly comparable.
Futures open interest expanded 1,068 lots Tuesday to 156,590, with DecemberΆs down 178 lots to 620 and MarchΆs up 204 lots to 112,825.
Certificated stocks grew 3,308 bales to 236,006. Awaiting review were 7,103 bales for a possible total of 243,109 bales.
World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index gained 70 points Wednesday morning to 85.60 cents. The premium to TuesdayΆs March futures settlement widened two points to 6.46 cents.