Export commitments edged up to 7.917 million running bales for 2015-16, 2.303 million RB or 23% behind year-ago bookings. U.S. Far East premium narrowed four points.
Cotton futures settled lower Thursday, snapping a five-session string of higher closes, with spot May slipping to a four-day low and losing its premium to July.
May finished down 99 points to 60.64 cents, trading within a 199-point range from up 29 points at 61.92 to down 170 points at 59.93 cents. It posted the high overnight, touched the low about 25 minutes prior to the close, and pared the loss heading to the finish. May options expiry is Friday.
July dropped 44 points to close at 60.85 cents and December dipped 28 points to settle at 60.02 cents.
Volume slowed to an estimated 56,067 lots from 68,309 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 37,749 lots or 55%, block trades 1,600 lots and EFP 470 lots. Options volume totaled 1,847 calls and 2,371 puts.
Net U.S. all-cotton export sales for shipment this season of 99,200 running bales during the week ended April 7, down from 224,100 RB the prior week, brought 2015-16 commitments to 7.917 million RB.
Commitments — outstanding sales of 2.637 million RB plus shipments — trailed bookings a year ago by 2.303 million RB or by 23% and were 86% of the export forecast. A year ago, commitments were 94% of final exports.
All-cotton shipments of 196,200 RB, down from a crop year high of 344,100 RB the week before, hiked the total for the season to 5.281 million RB, which lagged year-ago exports by 1.373 million RB or 21%.
The USDA export forecast of 9.5 million statistical 480-pound bales is nearly 16% below last seasonΆs shipments.
Cumulative shipments edged up to 57% of the USDA projection, compared with 61% of final 2014-15 exports at the corresponding point last season.
To achieve the estimate, shipments need to average roughly 245,900 RB a week for the remaining 16 weeks of the marketing year, while weekly sales averaging around 81,100 RB would match the export forecast.
All-cotton sales for shipment next season of 19,700 RB, down from 28,700 RB the week before, nudged 2016-17 commitments to 1.303 million RB, up 157,000 RB from forward sales a year ago.
On the competitive-pricing scene, the average of the five lowest-quoted world growths for the Far East gained 169 points to 67.18 cents during the week ended Thursday, according to USDA, while the lowest-priced U.S. growth landed there advanced 165 points to 68.85 cents.
The U.S. premium thus narrowed four points to 1.67 cents. The adjusted world price for the program week beginning Friday, reflecting transportation and quality differentials, is figured at 47.43 cents, up from 45.74 cents.
This results in a corresponding decline in the marketing loan gain to 4.57 cents. The fine count adjustment for qualities better than 31-3-35, reflecting differences between premiums in the U.S. and international markets, will remain at zero.
Futures open interest dropped 3,138 lots Wednesday to 208,746, with MayΆs down 10,703 lots to 45,194 and JulyΆs up 5,454 lots to 96,507. Cert stocks grew 880 bales to 39,536.
