December completed bullish outside-day range reversal. Final data on 2015-16 cotton quality released by AMS. Rebound expected in cotton plantings in Zimbabwe.

Cotton futures finished strongly ahead Tuesday, led by a bullish outside-day range reversal in most-active December.

December settled up 148 points to 65.86 cents, reversing from a dip below the previous session to close above the highs of Monday and Friday. It finished near the high of its 182-point range from down 23 points at 64.15 to up 159 points at 65.97 cents.

Maturing July, where the open interest had dwindled to only 64 lots coming into the session, closed up 118 points to 64.66 cents. Its last trading day is July 7.

Talk of fresh export inquiries, a drop in U.S. dollar index futures after it had surged 3.9% from ThursdayΆs low to MondayΆs high and ongoing speculation that soybeans might have cut into U.S. cotton plantings may have contributed to the cotton rally. Strong internal cotton prices in China may have lent psychological support.

Some trade plantings estimates ahead of the USDA report on Thursday have ranged from 9.3 million to 9.75 million acres, compared with March intentions of 9.56 million and seeding last year of 8.58 million acres.

Volume increased to an estimated 19,565 lots from 14,798 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 2,370 lots or 16% and EFP 427 lots. Options volume totaled 4,362 calls and 1,614 puts.

Final U.S. 2015-16 upland classing figures showed the predominant color grade was 31 (middling) at 34.6%, down from 39.4% the previous year. All-white grades accounted for 74.3%, compared with 91.5% in 2014.

Grade 3 was the predominant leaf at 41.8%, down from 43.1% the year before, according to the annual report on quality from USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service. The next highest percentage was leaf grade 4 at 30.6%, up from 27.2% the prior year.

Staple lengths averaged 35.9 thirty-seconds of an inch, up slightly from 35.7%, with staple 37 predominant at 24.6%. In the 2014 crop, staple 36 was predominant at 28.2%.

Mike readings averaged 4.4, down from 4.5 a year ago, with 3.5-4.9 accounting for 81.5%, down from 83.1%. Fiber strength averaged 30.3 grams per tex, up slightly from 30.1.

Upland ginning fell to 12,112,750 running bales in 2015-16 from 15,330,750 RB in 2014-15, USDAΆs National Agricultural Statistics Service reported earlier. The AMS classed 2015-16 upland samples from 12,103,561 RB or 99.9% of the total ginned.

On the international scene, ZimbabweΆs cotton plantings in 2016-17 are expected to increase to about 300,000 hectares (one hectare equals 2.471 acres) from 175,000 hectares in 2015-16, according to a report from USDAΆs Foreign Agricultural Service post in Pretoria.

Production under normal climatic conditions could recover to around 210,000 metric tons of seed cotton, the report said. Under one of the worst droughts to hit southern Africa in 35 years, seed cotton output in 2015-16 fell by 23% to around 80,000 MT, the post said.

The recovery foreseen for 2016-17 will be spurred mainly by the Zimbabwean governmentΆs free inputs support program that will reduce cotton farmersΆ production costs, the report said.

Cotton is the second most important cash crop in Zimbabwe after tobacco and is grown predominantly by small farmers on an average of between one and two hectares under rain-fed conditions.

Futures open interest fell 1,096 lots Monday to 184,030, with DecemberΆs down 998 lots to 151,487 and MarchΆs up 80 lots to 21,155. Cert stocks were unchanged at 135,163 bales.