Analysts projected a U.S. crop of 15.47 million bales, down from USDAΆs July forecast of 15.8 million bales. All-cotton 2016-17 export commitments reached 32% of the USDA forecast.

Cotton futures settled on the plus side for the first time in four sessions Thursday, with benchmark December meandering within the previous-day price range.

December gained 42 points to settle at 71.86 cents, in the middle of its 119-point trading band from down 19 points at 71.25 to up 100 points at 72.44 cents.

Nearby October edged up 11 points to 71.27 cents, March gained 43 points to 72.42 cents and December 2017 rose 36 points to 71.51 cents.

Volume slowed to an estimated 19,901 lots from 32,977 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 9,285 lots or 28% and EFP 167 lots. Options volume totaled 4,330 calls and 5,813 puts.

Cotton analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal projected a U.S. crop at an average of 15.47 million bales, down from 15.8 million bales foreseen by USDA last month but up from last seasonΆs 12.89 million bales.

The USDA will release the seasonΆs first survey-based estimate at 11 a.m. CDT on Friday. Crop estimates in the WSJ survey spanned a narrow range from 15.4 million to 15.5 million bales.

Analysts pegged exports at an average 11.38 million bales within a range from 11.2 million to 11.50 million bales, compared with USDAΆs July projection of 11.5 million and last seasonΆs estimated 9.2 million bales.

They estimated ending stocks at 4.4 million bales within a range of 4.3 million to 4.6 million bales. This compares with USDAΆs July forecast of 4.6 million bales and 3.9 million bales estimated for 2015-16.

No estimate was reported for domestic mill consumption, estimated by USDA last month at 3.6 million bales, against an estimated 3.55 million bales in the just-ended marketing year.

The USDAΆs ending stocks estimate would be the largest since 2008-09 when stocks were more than 6 million bales. However, with market offtake estimated at the highest in four years at 15.1 million bales, the stocks-to-use ratio of 30.5% would be down fractionally from 30.6% in 2015-16.

Meanwhile, net U.S. weekly all-cotton export sales of 141,000 running bales for 2016-17 plus unshipped carryover sales from 2015-16 of 736,200 RB boosted new-crop commitments to 3.621 million RB as of Aug. 4, USDA figures showed.

This widened the lead over commitments a year ago to 1.023 million RB and amounted to 32% of the USDA export forecast. A year ago, commitments were 29% of the current USDA estimate for 2015-16.

Final figures for 2015-16 showed shipments of 8,419,600 RB of upland and 513,300 RB of Pima for an all-cotton total of 8.932 million RB, a bit above the July estimate.

Futures open interest declined 1,225 lots Wednesday to 243,729, with DecemberΆs down 2,518 lots to 180,204 and MarchΆs up 1,244 lots to 42,377. Certified stocks declined 6,206 bales to 91,423.