Planting expected to move rapidly as fields dry on the Texas Plains. Excellent progress made in the Southeast. Slow germination reported in North Delta.

Planting wound down in South Delta. Rain facilitated heavy fruiting in Rio Grande Valley. Crop made good progress in the West.

Cotton futures skidded to sharp losses on weather and chart considerations and finished on new low closes for the move Tuesday after posting session highs on the opening.

Spot July lost 134 points to settle at 84.97 cents, its third straight triple-digit closing loss in a row and its lowest close since Jan. 28. It settled 12 ticks from the low of its 165-point range from up 19 points at 86.50 to down 146 points at 84.85 cents.

December shed 161 points to close at 77.86 cents, trading from unchanged at 79.47 cents to down 173 points at 77.74 cents. It closed at its lowest settlement since Feb. 27.

Volume slowed to an estimated 25,000 lots from a final 35,385 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 6,147 lots or 17%, EFP 1,293 lots and block trades 310 lots. Options volume totaled 8,119 calls and 3,880 puts.

On the crop scene, planting is expected to move rapidly on the Texas High Plains as fields dry following widespread beneficial rains over the long holiday weekend. Sunny to mostly sunny skies are expected into early next week in the Lubbock area.

Planting had continued on irrigated land ahead of the rains but had been limited on dryland acreage because of a lack of topsoil and subsoil moisture. Some producers had dry-planted, hoping for rain to bring cotton to a stand.

Elsewhere, planting activity surged across the Southeast as favorable weather allowed excellent progress last week, according to a review Friday by the cotton division of USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service.

Ample soil moisture and warm weather helped seedlings to establish good stands in the earliest-planted fields. Producers monitored young plants for thrips, but insect pressure was light. Foliar sprays were applied as needed.

Warm, clear conditions helped saturated fields to dry in the North Delta. Producers made good progress planting, especially in Tennessee. Germination was slow in most fields because of low soil temperatures.

In the South Delta, planting mostly neared completion in Louisiana and was rapidly winding down in Mississippi. Early planted fields were treated for thrips in Louisiana and a few hotspots of spider mites were observed in the hill country of Mississippi.

Recent rain facilitated heavy fruiting and squaring in the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas. Some fields were treated with plant-growth regulators designed to increase fruiting and control growth.

Producers returned to fields in the Texas Blackland Prairies to apply herbicides and replant some fields that had been under water. Some seedlings emerged in fields planted four weeks ago. Reports indicated planted acreage had increased 15% from last year.

Temperatures reached 107 degrees around Yuma, Ariz., early in the reporting period but moderated to the mid-80s by midweek. The crop continued to make good progress. Blooms appeared in fields planted in mid-February. The crop progressed to the two-to-five true-leaf stage in Central Arizona.

Accumulated heat units were 11 days ahead of normal.

Cotton also made good progress in the San Joaquin Valley. Some stands were in the four-to-five true-leaf stage. One saw gin will close permanently.
Futures open interest fell 2,702 lots Friday to 187,599, with JulyΆs down 4,656 lots to 105,009 and DecemberΆs up 1,092 lots to 72,556. Cert stocks declined 2,898 bales to 428,262 bales, the first decrease in a long while. There were 3,427 newly certified bales, 6,325 bales decertified and 5,816 bales awaiting review.

World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index dropped 70 points Tuesday morning to 90.15 cents. The premium to FridayΆs July futures settlement widened 77 points to 3.84 cents.

Forward A Index world values for 2014-15 lost 110 points to 87.20 cents, widening the discount to the 2013-14 index by 40 points to 2.95 cents and the premium to FridayΆs December futures settlement by 16 points to 7.73 cents.