Cotton futures settled narrowly ahead in current-crop contracts Wednesday, chopping back and forth within trading ranges established by early morning.

Cotton futures settled narrowly ahead in current-crop contracts Wednesday, chopping back and forth within trading ranges established by early morning.

Spot March eked up a point to settle at 82.27 cents, just above the midpoint of its 112-point range from up 47 points at 82.73 to down 65 points at 81.61 cents. May and July both edged up 17 points to close at 82.91 and 83.36 cents, respectively.

Support may have stemmed partly from a sharply lower U.S. dollar, credited with contributing to a broad commodities rally. The other cotton contracts gained 25-to-60 points, with December up 53 points to 75.86 cents.

Volume increased to an estimated 50,800 lots from 43,186 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 28,026 lots or 65%, EFS 93 lots and EFP 83 lots. Options volume rose to 6,812 lots (4,324 calls and 2,488 puts) from 4,573 lots (1,780 calls and 2,793 puts).

The government shutdown earlier this week has resulted in USDA’s weekly U.S. export sales report being delayed a day until Friday. Some expectations are for upland sales for the week ended last Thursday to come in below the prior week’s 275,100 running bales.

With the huge bulk of all U.S. cotton exported as either raw fiber or cotton yarn, 10 cotton organizations have pledged contributions in 2018 to support the demand-building activities of Cotton Council International.

The CCI is the National Cotton Council’s export promotions arm. Supporters include the NCC; Cotton Inc.; American Cotton Shippers Association; California Cotton Alliance; the Committee for Cotton Research; ICE Futures U.S.; Plains Cotton Growers, Inc.; Southern Cotton Growers, Inc.; and Supima.

“Our growers believe that contributing to CCI is an investment in the future of our industry and ultimately is essential to our success,” Steve Verett, executive vice president of the Lubbock-based PCG, said in a release distributed by the NCC.

“The work they do is vital to helping ensure that the rest of the world knows why U.S. cotton is a superior product and worthy of sourcing. The fact that 80% of U.S. cotton is exported highlights the critical need for a healthy export market.”

U.S. cotton industry contributions supplement funding from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service’s market access and foreign market development programs. The CCI is the largest recipient of funding from those programs to promote U.S. cotton overseas.

The United States is the world’s leading cotton exporter, expected to account for a 39% global share this season. That is more than three times the share of any other country.

In the last marketing year, the U.S. industry exported 18.4 million bales of raw cotton fiber and cotton textiles. All-cotton exports in 2016-17 reached 14.92 million bales, second highest on record and 82% of total raw cotton use.

Exports overtook domestic mill consumption for the first time in 2001-02 when overseas shipments of 11 million bales accounted for 59% of total U.S. cotton market offtake. In 1997-98, domestic mill consumption of 11.35 million bales amounted to 60% of total use.

Futures open interest grew 1,561 lots to another new record 314,624 on Tuesday, with March’s down 3,166 lots and May’s up 3,367 lots to 75,563. Certified stocks dropped 20 bales to 48,431. The withdrawals were at Galveston where 258 bales were awaiting review.