Fed kept rates unchanged but signaled year-end hike. ChinaΆs crop projected at 22.5 million bales, compared with USDAΆs forecast of 21 million bales. Supportive weekly export sales expected.

Cotton futures surged to a new six-week high on follow-through action Wednesday, powered partly by technically oriented buying.

Benchmark December settled up 82 points to 71.62 cents, in the upper third of its 182-point range from down 52 points at 70.28 cents to up 130 points to 72.10 cents. It finished near a 50% retracement (71.70) of the decline from the Aug. 5 high at 77.98 to the Aug. 31 low at 65.41 cents.

December has advanced 434 points or 6.5% on a closing basis in three days. October closed up 99 points for the day to 71.81 cents, March gained 90 points to 71.73 cents and December 2017 added 102 points to 71.45 cents.

Just ahead of the close, the Federal Reserve left short-term interest rates unchanged but signaled after a meeting marked by internal divisions that it still expected to raise them before year-end, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

The stance underscored the lack of urgency the central bankΆs leadership feels about lifting rates at a time when inflation is lingering below its 2% goal and the unemployment rate is holding steady at a low level of just under 5%.

U.S. stock markets rose and dollar index futures fell on the heels of the announcement. Most traders hadnΆt expected the Fed to hike rates.

Volume dipped to an estimated 28,285 lots from 33,701 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 8,074 lots or 24%, EFS 617 lots and EFP three lots. Options volume totaled 11,461 calls and 6,750 puts.

ChinaΆs 2016-17 cotton production is projected at 4.91 million metric tons (22.55 million 480-pound bales), down 5.6% from the 2015-16 output but up 1.6% from the previous estimate released in June, according to a domestic industry survey.

Weather over the summer has been better than expected in the countryΆs main cotton-producing areas, including the northwestern province of Xinjiang, the report on a government-based Chinese website indicated.

The USDA earlier this month forecast ChinaΆs crop at 21 million bales, unchanged from its August projection and a million bales below its estimate for 2015-16. ChinaΆs cotton production has declined four years in a row.

World cotton production is estimated by USDA at 102.5 million bales, 6% above last seasonΆs 13-year low. The three largest cotton-producing countries of India, China and the United States are forecast to account for 62%, slightly below the three-year average of approximately 63.5%.

India, which first surpassed China in 2015-16, is expected to remain the largest producer with 26.5 million bales, down 500,000 bales from USDAΆs August forecast and a bit below last seasonΆs 26.4 million bales.

IndiaΆs status as the leading producer stems mostly from having the largest cotton area. Its harvested area is forecast at 10.9 million hectares (26.9 million acres), accounting for 37% of the world total, while the United States and China are projected at 13% and 9%, respectively.

Yields in India, however, are forecast 30% below the 2016-17 world average of 756 kilograms per hectare or 674 pounds per acre.

Meanwhile, a supportive U.S. export sales report for the week ended Sept. 15 is generally expected from USDA on Thursday. Net upland sales the prior week of 136,400 running bales were the lowest since January 2015. Yet all-cotton sales of 148,200 RB were slightly above the weekly average needed to match USDAΆs export forecast.

Net upland sales for shipment this season have totaled 943,000 RB the last four weeks for a weekly average of 235,750 RB.

Futures open interest expanded 7,043 lots Tuesday to 239,422, with DecemberΆs up 5,830 lots to 158,248 and MarchΆs up 187 lots to 49,686. Cert stocks inched up 34 bales to 32,662. There were 121 newly certified bales and 87 bales decertified.