Cotton Ekes Out Small Weekly Gain in December
U.S. upland cotton classed for the season has totaled 406,401 running bales, down from 886,067 bales a year ago. Mills stepped up pricing in December to 1,618 lots.
Cotton futures finished at a four-session high close and eked out a small weekly gain in benchmark December Friday, rallying from a fractional early loss to extend the prior dayΆs outside-range reversal to the upside.
December closed up 33 points to 60.64 cents, smack in the middle of its 107-point range from down 21 points at 60.10 to up 86 points at 61.17 cents. It posted the low on the overnight opening and tested chart resistance at the 61.20 low just prior to the August crop report.
For the week, December eked out a nine-point gain, while March, which settled up 22 points for the day to 60.34 cents, finished with an 18-point weekly loss. Maturing October settled up 60 points to 59.64 cents.
Volume slowed to an estimated 18,200 lots from 20,023 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 5,992 lots or 30% and EFP 226 lots. Options volume totaled 2,810 calls and 7,475 puts.
U.S. upland cotton classing increased to 107,983 running bales during the week ended Thursday from 100,987 bales the previous week to boost the total for the season to 406,401 bales, behind 886,067 bales a year ago.
The latest classing data from USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service showed tenderable cotton totaled 64.3% for the week and 68.6% for the season, down from 67.2% and 68.6%, respectively, the previous week. A year ago, 76.9% of the cotton classed for the season was tenderable.
Classing for the season in Texas totaled 390,587 bales, down from 871,125 bales a year ago.
Ginning neared completion in the Rio Grande Valley and continued in southern Texas, the Winter Garden and the Upper Coast. Harvesting expanded in East Texas. Widespread thunderstorms interrupted harvest-aid applications in the West Texas Plains, where limited ginning was underway.
U.S. upland ginning had reached 293,200 running bales as of Sept. 15, compared with 695,900 bales in 2014, 273,550 bales in 2013 and 755,500 bales in 2012, USDAΆs National Agricultural Statistics Service reported.
Meanwhile, mills stepped up their on-call pricing to 1,618 lots in December last week from 553 lots the previous week, reducing their unpriced position to 17,972 lots, according to the latest call data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Producers priced just six lots, trimming their unfixed position to 5,791 lots. The net call difference thus narrowed 1,612 lots to 5,791, which was 4.84% of DecemberΆs reduced open interest, down from 6.11% the previous week.
The unfixed position of mills outweighed that of producers by a ratio of 1.47:1, compared with 1.6:1 a week earlier.
Elsewhere, mills added 29 lots in March and 44 lots in May and priced 239 lots in July. Producers added 157 lots in March, 10 lots in May, nine lots in July and 81 lots in December 2016.
Futures open interest dropped 121 lots Thursday to 121,502, with DecemberΆs down 531 lots to 121,502 and MarchΆs up 264 lots to 46,200. Curiously, DecemberΆs OI was up 3,909 lots for the week. Cert stocks declined 1,916 bales to 45,995, compared with 51,610 bales a week ago.
