Cotton Closes Mixed as December Ekes Out Gain

U.S. upland cotton classing reached 811,743 bales, down from 1.433 million a year ago. High Plains expected to account for 70% of the Texas crop. Seeds reported sprouting from the Carolinas to Georgia. Yields of up to 1,400 pounds an acre picked in Arkansas. Storms ripped El Paso.

Cotton futures settled slightly mixed in tight-range trading Monday, with the front two contracts edging higher and the others lower.

Spot December closed up eight points to 61.69 cents, around the lower quarter of its 68-point range from up 58 points at 62.19 to down 10 points at 61.51 cents. It touched the high in the early minutes of overnight dealings, hit the low around 9 a.m. CDT and chopped indecisively within FridayΆs trading band.

March settled up 14 points to 61.67 cents, trading on the spread within a tick of December, while the other contracts settled down six to 27 points. December 2016 closed down 13 points to 62.32 cents.

Volume slowed to an estimated 17,800 lots from 28,912 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 10,959 lots or 38%, block trades 1,000 lots and EFP 194 lots. Options volume totaled 2,688 calls and 2,053 puts.

U.S. upland cotton classing increased to 239,056 running bales during the week ended Thursday from the prior weekΆs 157,118 bales, according to the latest figures from USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service.

This brought the total for the season to 811,743 RB, down from 1,433,463 RB a year ago.

Cotton tenderable on futures contracts slipped to 52.3% from 54.7% the prior week and totaled 61% for the season. A year ago, 74.7% graded for the season met tenderable requirements.

The seasonΆs classing total represented about 6.5% of USDAΆs upland crop estimate in running bales, compared with about 9.4% of final production graded at the corresponding point last year.

The U.S. production estimate released Friday showed a smaller-than-expected increase of 30,000 bales to 3.98 million bales in the forecast for the Texas High Plains, which would be up from 3.261 bales million harvested in 2014-15 and the largest since 2010.

Production on the High Plains now is projected to account for 70% of the statewide output of 5.65 million bales, which was cut 100,000 bales from the previous estimate, and 31% of the U.S. upland crop. (The Texas crop estimate was misstated in FridayΆs comments.)

Crop prospects in the adjoining Rolling Plains declined 45,000 bales to 845,000, still up from last seasonΆs 817,300 bales.

Classing on the High Plains has totaled 22,910 RB, including 6,283 bales at Lubbock and 16,627 at Lamesa. An insufficient volume had been received at those offices a year ago for reports to be issued.

Harvesting and applications of harvest-aids are expected to quicken this week under sunny skies. Several reports have cited higher-than-expected dryland yields, with some fields averaging two bales an acre.

Elsewhere, sunny, skies with temperatures in the low 80s prevailed late last week in areas of the Southeast where extension agents and others assessing crop damage expected significant losses from recent torrential rainfall and flooding.

Seeds were sprouting in cotton bolls in areas from North Carolina to Georgia, the AMS said in a weekly cotton review. Those areas have experienced weeks of unrelenting wet weather and warmer temperatures. Hard-locked bolls and boll rot also were reported in South Georgia.

Harvesting activities slowly regained momentum in most of the North Delta except in Missouri. Producers in Arkansas reported yields of up to 1,400 pounds per acre. Field operations were in full swing under ideal weather in the South Delta. Yields of around 1,200 pounds were reported in some irrigated fields in Louisiana.

In the Desert Southwest, severe thunderstorms produced strong winds, rain and golf-ball sized hail around El Paso. Sources reported crop damage and loss of roughly 500 acres from the Oct. 5 storms. Some fields had been defoliated but not harvested.

Futures open interest expanded 1,081 lots Friday to 190,726, with DecemberΆs down 890 lots to 119,214 and MarchΆs up 1,503 lots to 51,602. Cert stocks increased 146 bales to 43,224 on 180 newly certified bales and 34 decertified bales.