U.S. all-cotton plantings declined 1.5% from the March intentions and rose 19.7% from last year to 12.055 million acres. A slight increase from March had been expected.
Cotton futures settled on strong gains Friday, powered by a smaller-than-expected USDA estimate of the U.S. planted area.
December settled up 135 points to 68.59 cents, just off the high of its 183-point range, from down 38 points at 66.86 cents, up to 145 points at 68.69 cents. It closed above highs of the prior six sessions, reversing from a dip below ThursdayΆs low prior to the acreage report.
December advanced 157 points, or 2.3% for the week, climbing off its lowest intraday price on Monday since Aug. 31. Still, December lost 420 points, or 5.8%, for the month and 550 points, or 7.4%, for the quarter.
The other contracts settled up 96 points to 131. March had the smallest daily gain, settling at 67.57 cents. That was a 55-point gain for the week, and a 485-point loss for the month.
Volume quickened to an estimated 28,744 lots from 17,641 the previous session when spreads accounted for 6,406 lots, or 36%, EFP 32 lots and EFS 15 lots. Options volume rose to 4,884 lots (3,346 calls and 1,538 puts) from 2,989 lots (2,184 calls and 805 puts).
U.S. all-cotton plantings declined 1.5% from the March intentions and rose by 19.7% from last year, to 12.055 million acres, USDAΆs National Agricultural Statistics Service reported.
A slight increase on average had been expected from the March intentions, which had been used in USDAΆs May and June production estimates. The plantings came in at the lower end of the range of pre-report estimates from 12 million to 12.5 million acres.
The upland area is estimated at 11.803 million acres, down 198,000 acres from the March intentions and up 1.925 million acres from last year. Pima, or extra-long staple acres, are pegged at 252,000, compared with 232,000 acres intended earlier and 194,500 ELS acres in 2016.
Cotton acreage is up from last year — up in all states except Florida, USDA said. Due to extensive drought in Florida, cotton plantings fell an estimated 12.6% to 90,000 acres.
By regions, the acres planted in upland cotton rose by 18.1% to 2.565 million in the Southeast, 21.5% to 1.81 million in the Mid-South, 19% to 7.126 million in the Southwest and 31.3% to 302,000 in the West.
Cotton planting was delayed in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi because of heavy rain, storms and flooding during early spring, USDA said. By the end of May, weather improved and fields dried, allowing producers to catch up quickly and get the crop planted within the normal window.
Growers in Texas, the top cotton state, planted upland on 6.6 million acres, down 300,000 acres from the March intentions, and up 950,000 acres from last year. A lot of interest is now expected to focus on standing acres in Texas and the acreage that might be available for harvest.
Growers planted 4.055 million acres of upland on the Texas High Plains and 1.205 million acres in the adjoining Rolling Plains, up 10.4% and 24.4% from last yearΆs 3.673 million and 968,500 acres, respectively.
Producers across the Cotton Belt planted 96% of their acreage with seed varieties developed using biotechnology, up 3% from last year. Varieties containing insect resistance (Bt) were planted on 5% of the acreage, up a percentage point from 2016.
Herbicide-resistant varieties were planted on 11% of the acreage, up 2 points; stacked gene cottons, those containing both insect and herbicide resistance, were planted on an unchanged 80%.
Futures open interest increased 609 lots to 201,953 on Thursday, with JulyΆs down 58 lots to 415, DecemberΆs down 341 lots to 159,883 and MarchΆs up 667 lots to 26,887.
Certified stocks grew 554 bales to 313,026. There were 944 newly certified bales and 390 bales decertified. Awaiting review were 5,344 bales at Memphis.
CORRECTION: U.S. new-crop weekly export sales were incorrectly reported in ThursdayΆs closing comments. New-crop sales of upland and Pima combined were 321,900 running bales. All-cotton old-crop, new-crop weekly sales totaled 584,200 RB.
