Planting neared completion in the Rio Grande Valley. Light rain fell in the Southeast. Damage on emerged corn reported still being assessed in the Delta. Crop made good progress at Yuma. Pima planting began in California. Upland loans outstanding plunged 985,838 bales.
Cotton futures rallied from early losses to finish narrowly ahead on thin volume Monday, with spot May reversing off a four-session low.
The May contract eked up eight points to close at 57.80 cents, trading from down 52 points at 57.20 to up 27 points at 57.99 cents. It touched the low overnight, tested it during the morning session and bounced to finish around the upper quarter of the 79-point range.
July gained 13 points to close at 57.71 cents and December rose 12 points to settle at 57.47 cents.
Volume slowed to an estimated 14,347 lots from 23,445 lots the prior session when spreads accounted for 11,831 lots or 50%, EFS 37 lots and EFP 21 lots. Options volume totaled 1,853 calls and 482 puts.
Beneficial rainfall in South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley reduced the need to irrigate during the week ended March 24, according to a cotton review by USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service.
Planting neared completion in the valley, while sowing continued in the Coastal Bend and was just getting started in the Upper Coast. In eastern Texas, heavy rainfall late in the reporting week flooded fields and deposited large hail in some areas. Warm, windy conditions prevailed in the West Texas Plains.
In the lower Southeast, light, scattered showers left around a quarter to half an inch of moisture to areas along the Gulf Coast and portions of South Georgia. Similar conditions were reported along the coastal Carolinas and Virginia and inland areas.
A cold front late in the period brought freezing temperatures and a wintry mix of sleet and rain to fields already saturated from previous storms in the North Delta. Up to an inch of rain fell there and in isolated areas of the South Delta where assessments of damage to emerged corn were still underway.
The crop made good progress around Yuma, Arizona. Central Arizona producers will receive some water allocations from the San Carlos and Hohokam irrigation districts. The El Paso County Water Improvement District planned to release irrigation water on Sunday for April 1 delivery. The initial allocation is two acre-feet for producers.
Droughty conditions persisted in the San Joaquin Valley and were rated severe to exceptional by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Planting of Pima began in Kern County.
Meanwhile, U.S. upland loans outstanding plunged 985,838 running bales to 3.025 million RB during the week ended last Monday, according to the latest USDA figures.
The May delivery hit a rally high that week of 58.89 cents, up from the contract low of 54.53 cents on Feb. 29 and the highest intraday price since Feb. 23.
Loan repayments jumped to 1,001,462 RB and entries totaled 15,624 RB. Upland cotton under loan included 260,631 RB of Form A issued to individual growers and 2,763,956 RB of Form G issued to marketing cooperatives or loan servicing agents.
Futures open interest gained 792 lots Thursday to 213,713, with MayΆs down 1,208 lots to 110,538 and JulyΆs up 1,543 lots to 49,767. Cert stocks declined 2,030 bales to 47,037.
