March posted its third consecutive weekly gain. U.S. 2015-16 export commitments reached 45% of the USDA forecast.
U.S. cotton futures finished higher for the third consecutive session and posted the third weekly gain in a row Friday.
- Most-active March closed up 65 points to 63.93 cents, in the upper quarter of its 133-point range from down 45 points at 62.83 to up 88 points at 64.16 cents. It gained 110 points for the week and settled on a new high close since Oct. 21.
- Maturing December settled up 65 points to 62.63 cents and May closed up 60 points to 64.56 cents.
- World cotton futures settled up 81 points to 72.93 cents in the May delivery, widening the premium over the U.S. May contract by 21 points to 8.37 cents.
A marketing year high in U.S. weekly export sales along with potential damage from rain and freezing rain to yields and quality in the Texas High and Rolling Plains stimulated fresh buying against headwinds stemming partly from strength in the U.S. dollar index.
Volume for the abbreviated session slowed to an electronically estimated 18,800 lots from 30,946 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 5,185 lots or 17%, EFS 65 lots and EFP 21 lots.
Trading during the holiday-shortened session was interrupted for a time by an exchange shutdown because of technical difficulties.
Net U.S. all-cotton export sales for shipment this season of 275,100 running bales during the week ended Nov. 19, up from 210,300 RB the previous week, boosted 2015-16 commitments to 4.446 million RB.
Commitments — outstanding sales of 2.796 million RB plus shipments — reached 4.446 million RB, trailing year-ago bookings by 2.187 million RB or by about 33%.
Overall sales amounted to about 45% of the USDA export projection, compared with about 61% of final 2014-15 shipments at the corresponding point last season.
All-cotton shipments of 99,600 RB, up from 61,000 RB the prior week, brought exports for the season to 1.65 million RB. The lead over shipments a year ago narrowed to 208,000 RB.
Shipments totaled about 17% of the USDA forecast, compared with about 13% of final exports a year ago.
To achieve the USDA estimate, shipments of upland and Pima combined need to average roughly 229,000 RB per week, while sales averaging around 151,400 RB would match the export forecast.
Net sales for shipment next season of 38,000 RB, up from the prior week’s 5,300 RB, hiked 2016-17 commitments to 636,500 RB. Forward bookings a year ago were 505,400 RB.
U.S. futures open interest increased 1,645 lots Wednesday to 172,164, with DecemberΆs down 62 lots to 69, MarchΆs up 1,360 lots to 129,716 and MayΆs up 42 lots to 24,108.
Certificated stocks grew 4,187 bales to 63,958. There were 14,202 newly certified bales, 15 bales decertified and 1,460 bales awaiting review.
