December closed lower for second straight session. All-cotton weekly export sales declined sharply, but commitments still stand at 81% of the estimate for 2016-17 and reached 36% of the forecast for 2017-18.
Cotton futures finished lower for the second session in a row and third of the last four Thursday, down 60 to 159 points in traded contracts across the board, with December settling on a new low close for the move.
December dropped 90 points to close at 66.37 cents, just off the low of its 129-point range from up 32 points at 67.59, to down 97 points at 66.30 cents. It printed the lowest intraday price since June 26 when it touched 66.15 cents, lowest since it fell to 65.50 last Aug. 31.
March closed down 78 points to 66.16 cents, near the low of its 110-point range from 67.20 to 66.10 cents. October lost the most, closing at 66.54 cents.
Sharp losses in grains and soybeans for a second day may have contributed to the pressure on cotton. December corn lost 3.76% and November soybeans shed 4.47%.
Volume increased to 19,673 lots from 15,873 lots the prior session when spreads accounted for 3,949 lots or 25%. Options volume rose to 3,583 lots (2,168 calls and 1,415 puts) from 1,876 lots (1,257 calls and 619 puts).
Net U.S. all-cotton export sales for this season and next fell to a combined 170,300 running bales during the week ended last Thursday — a period spanning the Independence Day holiday — from 493,800 RB the previous week.
All-cotton sales for this season fell to a marketing year low of 15,600 RB from 196,000 RB. With supply availability considered virtually sold out, old-crop sales have been expected to slow to a trickle.
Commitments for 2016-17 edged up to 15.204 million RB, up 5.727 million RB or 60% from cumulative sales a year ago and still 108% of the USDA export estimate. A year ago, commitments were 107% of final shipments. Outstanding sales were 1.735 million RB, compared with 1.257 million RB last year.
All-cotton shipments of 202,700 RB, down from 306,600 RB the prior week, boosted the total for the season to 13.408 million RB. The lead over shipments a year ago widened 46,000 RB to 5.189 million or 63%. Shipments were 95% of the USDA projection for 2016-17, compared with 93% of the final 2015-16 exports a year ago.
With three-plus weeks left in the marketing year, shipments averaging roughly 187,600 RB a week would match the export estimate. Shipments the last four weeks have totaled 1.007 million RB or 251,700 RB a week.
All-cotton sales for next season came in below expectations at 154,700 RB, down from the prior weekΆs 297,800 RB. Upland sales dropped to 152,600 RB from 297,200 RB and were the lowest in nine weeks.
Commitments for 2017-18 are a bulging 4.721 million RB, 36% of the USDA export projection and topped forward sales a year ago by 2.611 million RB. Forward bookings last year were 15% of the current USDA 2016-17 forecast for the second largest exports on record.
Futures open interest grew 972 lots to 211,735 on Wednesday, with OctoberΆs down 16 lots to 182, DecemberΆs up 411 lots to 161,488 and MarchΆs up 249 lots to 33,168.
Certified stocks declined 5,293 bales to 72,473. There were 5,854 bales decertified and 561 newly certified bales. Awaiting review were 1,371 bales at Memphis.
