Mostly light rain ended a dry spell on the Texas Plains. Lubbock has recorded only 0.39 of an inch of precipitation since Jan. 1. Upland cotton under loan increased to 4.647 million RB.

Cotton futures fell to new contract lows in most deliveries beyond maturing March and closed in the red in those months Tuesday for the third session in a row.

• Most-active May settled down 69 points to 58 cents, in the lower quarter of its 114-point range from up 20 points at 58.99 cents to down 84 points at 57.85 cents. It posted the high in the early minutes of overnight trading.
• March settled up 43 points to 58.17 cents, July closed down 69 points to 58.31 cents and December finished down 64 points to 58.28 cents. Open interest in March fell heavily just ahead of first notice day on Tuesday.
• Volume slowed to an estimated 25,966 lots from 37,375 lots the prior session when block trades totaled 2,500 lots and EFP 1,032 lots. Options volume totaled 7,672 calls and 5,462 puts.

Thunderstorms rumbling across the Texas High and Rolling Plains late Monday afternoon and night deposited the first measurable precipitation in 36 days at Lubbock.

The storms brought widespread but mostly light precipitation. A few power outages were reported. Light rain and snow appeared to have ended Tuesday morning, though drizzles were termed possible into the afternoon.

Lubbock recorded only 0.09 of an inch of rain, nudging the total since Jan. 1 to a mere 0.39, compared with a normal of 1.26 inches and 1.66 inches a year ago. Snowfall has totaled 13.3 inches since Dec. 1, up from the normal of 6.3 inches and 6.8 inches for the corresponding period a year earlier.

This normally is a dry period in the semi-arid region. Rainfall probabilities typically begin improving about the third week of March, continuing for the High Plains into the traditional opening of the optimum cotton planting period on May 5.

The latest weekly crop progress and condition report from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service showed topsoil moisture was adequate to surplus in 57% and 66% of the northern and southern districts on the Texas High Plains, respectively.

Subsoil moisture, which is stable and generally remains in the deeper soil layers until withdrawn by plant roots, was rated adequate to surplus in 81% of the northern district and 73% of the southern counties. Cotton, with its deep taproot, is built to take advantage of subsoil moisture reserves during the summertime.

A slight increase has been expected in cotton plantings on the High Plains, the nationΆs largest cotton patch, mainly on a shift from sorghum. Area producers last year planted cotton on 3.14 million acres.

Precipitation for the 24-hour period to 8 a.m. CST ranged from a few hundredths of an inch to 1.07 inches, with the heaviest amounts reported east of Lubbock along fringes of the Caprock. The average at 35 reporting sites was roughly a third of an inch.

Meanwhile, U.S. outstanding loans on 2015-crop upland cotton increased by 26,775 running bales to 4.647 million RB during the week ended Feb. 15, USDA figures have shown. Entries were 63,108 RB and repayments were made on 36,333 RB.

Upland cotton under loan included 321,681 RB of Form A issued to individual growers and 4.325 million RB issued to marketing cooperatives or loan servicing agents.

Futures open interest declined 2,683 lots Monday to 186,918. MarchΆs OI fell 4,301 lots to 682 after falling 3,366 lots on Friday and MayΆs rose 595 lots Monday to 116,397. Cert stocks grew 629 bales to 62,167. Awaiting review were 8,300 bales.