Cotton weekly win streak reported longest since 1998. U.S. weekly upland classing of 647,179 RB brought the total for the season to 14.092 million RB, up from 12.879 million a year ago. Upland cotton under loan rose to 4.452 million RB.

Cotton futures fell to triple-digit closing losses in 2017-18 marketing year contracts Tuesday, with spot March finishing at a four-session low settlement.

March settled down 113 points at 77.50 cents, near the low of its 199-point range from up 66 points at 79.29 cents — above Friday’s high — to down 133 points to a three-session low at 77.30 cents. It has lost ground three sessions initiated by a reversal off a new contract high to close on a slight loss on Thursday.

May closed shed 119 points to close at 77.77 cents and July lost 110 points to settle at 78.14 cents after touching new contract highs at 79.40 and 79.52 cents, respectively. The other contracts finished down 38 to up 73 points.

Spot cotton futures gains for 10 calendar weeks in a row to end 2017 stand as the fiber crop’s longest winning streak since 1998, Bloomberg News reported. The run amid robust export demand capped an 11% advance last year, the largest gain of nine crop components tracked by the Bloomberg Agriculture Subindex.

Volume increased to an estimated 34,288 lots from 23,804 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 47% and EFP 147 lots. Options volume dipped to 8,114 lots (5,987 calls and 2,127 puts) from 8,583 lots (5,032 calls and 3,551 puts).

U.S. upland cotton classing slowed to 647,179 running bales spanning Christmas last week from 1.128 million the prior week to bring the total for the season to 14.092 million RB, roughly 72% of the crop estimate.

The season’s total was up about 16% from 12.879 million RB graded a year ago when around 80% of the final upland production had been classed. Upland samples for grading came last week from 368 gins, down from 424 gins the previous week and 530 gins for the season.

Tenderable cotton slipped to 57.1% for the week and 72.6% for the season, compared with 67.3% and 71.4%, respectively, a year ago.

Pima classing declined to 32,880 RB from 50,593 RB the week before, boosting the extra-long staple total for the season to 470,264 RB, up from 403,131 RB a year ago. Eighteen gins submitted Pima samples, down from 21 the prior week and 25 for the season.

All-cotton classing for the season reached 15.412 million RB, up from 13.282 million RB graded through the corresponding period a year ago.

By regions, upland classing for the week and season included, respectively, 149,563 RB and 3.652 million RB in the Southeast; 75,484 and 4.289 million in the Midsouth; 393,954 and 6.56 million in Southwest; and 28,178 and 441,376 in the West.

Separately, U.S. outstanding upland loans increased 336,594 RB to 4.452 million RB during the week ended Dec. 25, according to the latest USDA figures.

Loan entries totaled 628,835 RB and repayments were made on 292,241 RB. Upland loans outstanding included 476,992 RB of Form A issued to individual growers and 3.985 million RB issued to marketing cooperatives or loan servicing agents.

Futures open interest expanded 3,692 lots to 282,689 on Friday, with March’s up 690 lots to 175,374 and May’s up 1,510 lots to 54,078. Certified stocks remained at 47,601 bales.