Heavy rains hampered final harvesting in the Southeast. An estimated 500,000 samples remained to be classed at Macon. Tornadoes ripped through the Delta. Warehouses reached their peak receiving period in the Plains. Ginning continued in the West.
U.S. cotton futures finished an inside-range day fractionally lower Tuesday, unable to close in the green three sessions in a row for the first time since Thanksgiving.
- Spot March settled off 10 points to 63.87 cents, trading within a mere 43-point range from up 28 points at 64.25 to down 15 points at 63.82 cents. It traded above 64 cents for a second day and the third time in the last six sessions but hasn’t closed above that since Dec. 9.
- May also closed down 10 points, settling at 64.62 cents, while December 2016 eased off nine points to finish at 65 cents.
- Volume slowed to an estimated 13,003 lots from 15,234 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 3,845 lots or 25%. Options volume totaled 776 calls and 1,544 puts.
Heavy rains hampered efforts to complete harvesting and other field activities in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama last week, USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service reported in a weekly cotton review Monday.
Flood watches were in effect in low-lying areas in the Carolinas and Georgia. Module haulers struggled with wet soil conditions. Ginning continued where gins had backlogs of modules on their yards.
The Macon classing office continued to operate three shifts to handle a steady flow of cotton samples. An estimated 500,000 samples remained to be classed.
Unusually warm and moist air flow resulted in dense fog and light to moderate rainfall in Virginia and North Carolina.
Windstorms and tornadoes raked multiple counties in the Delta, resulting in a number of fatalities and extensive damage. Thunderstorms brought rainfall that helped to recharge surface and groundwater supplies.
The Memphis classing office ceased day-to-day operations in favor of operating every other day. All but a couple of gins had finished the season.
Limited ginning continued in East Texas and a few fields remained to be harvested. Some producers considered whether the remaining crop was worth harvesting.
Sources estimated that harvesting reached 70% completed and ginning the halfway mark in Kansas. Recent snowfall delayed module transportation to gins. In Oklahoma, 90% of the crop was harvested and 70% was ginned.
Warehouses reached their peak receiving period ahead of a major winter storm in the West Texas Plains. Shipping was light. The Lubbock classing office maintained a three-shift operation and the Lamesa facility continued to operate two full shifts.
High-volume gins resumed ginning in Arizona after most gins operated a half-day schedule on Christmas Eve and closed Christmas. Warehouses were busy receiving cotton.
Beneficial rain and snow fell in the San Joaquin Valley. The state Department of Water Resources reported the Sierra Nevada snowpack was still below average in some locales but was building, especially in the northern range. Saw and roller ginning continued.
Futures open interest expanded 1,820 lots on Monday to 183,151, with MarchΆs up 1,240 lots to 124,256 and MayΆs up 354 lots to 30,778. Cert stocks declined 522 bales to 64,201.
