Planting intentions questionnaires distributed by the National Cotton Council. Harvest on Texas High Plains reported nearing an estimated 90% completed. IDB loan announced to help Cameroon develop cotton industry.

Cotton futures settled slightly lower Tuesday, with March bouncing off the overnight low but finishing just below lows of the prior two sessions.

March closed down 17 points to 75.03 cents, near the low of its 99-point range from down 27 points at 74.93 to up 72 points at 75.92. May settled down 31 points at 75.33 cents, trading within an 83-point range between 75.29 and 76.12, and July closed off 33 points at 75.85 cents.

The other contracts settled down 18 to up three points, with December 2018 dropping 13 points to close at 72.61 cents.

Volume edged up to an estimated 26,553 lots from 25,744 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 9,572 lots or 37%, EFP 24 lots and EFS 20 lots. Options volume slipped to 5,654 lots (3,880 calls and 1,774 puts) from 6,433 lots (4,337 calls and 2,096 puts).

The National Cotton Council has urged producers to respond to its annual survey of 2018 planting intentions.

Survey questionnaires have been distributed through a combination of regular mail and email to upland and extra-long staple producers across the Cotton Belt. To enhance the survey accuracy, producers are encouraged to respond by the Jan. 17 deadline.

The widely quoted survey is conducted to aid with industry planning and policy deliberations and provides the basis for the NCC’s economic outlook presented at the council’s annual industrywide meeting.

Survey results will be reported during the joint meeting of NCC program committees on Saturday morning, Feb. 10, at the council’s annual convention Feb. 9-11 in Fort Worth.

On the crop scene, with the Texas High Plains harvest approaching an estimated 90% completed, according to industry sources, scattered showers are forecast for Tuesday mainly to the south and east of Lubbock.

Rain chances around Lubbock are rated at 20%. A surge of cold air is expected to move into the region by the weekend and, according to some weather models, bring a light mix of wintry precipitation in some areas.

Lubbock has recorded only a trace of moisture this month and only 0.53 of an inch since Oct. 1, compared with a normal for the full three-month period of 3.53 inches.

Some gins are expected to continue operating until February or March to complete processing of a High Plains crop estimated by USDA at 5.57 million bales, which would be the second largest on record.

In world news, the International Islamic Trade Finance Corp. has offered Cameroon a 100 million-euro loan ($118 million) to develop its embattled cotton industry, Dow Jones Newswires reported, quoting the Islamic Development Bank.

The loan will help Cameroon’s state-run Cotton Development Corp. to buy and distribute fertilizer to its 250,000 farmers and develop its exports, said the bank, which controls ITFC.

Sodecoton, as Cotton Development Corp. is known, announced earlier this month that it plans to invest 140 billion Central African francs ($250 million) to help raise its cotton harvest next year by an anticipated 8.2%, the report said. But the company hadn’t said how it would obtain the funding.

Futures open interest declined 301 lots to 265,855 on Monday, with March’s down 1,031 lots to 170,018 and May’s down 424 lots to 49,773. Certified stocks remained at 47,628 bales.