U.S. all-cotton export commitments reached 108% of USDAΆs 2015-16 estimate and shipments totaled 96%.
Cotton futures remained within the broad overnight trading range Thursday and finished lower for a second day but well off the lows.
December settled down 51 points to 73.04 cents, in the upper half of its range from up 56 points at 74.11 to down 190 points at 71.65 cents. It held above MondayΆs low of 71.54, viewed as an important support point.
Nearby October shed 81 points to close at 73.02 cents, March lost 54 points to 73.26 cents and May dropped 44 points to 73.12 cents.
The reversal Wednesday from a run to a seven-day high, weak oil prices and end-of-month influences appeared to weigh on cotton sentiment despite a slump to a nine-session low in U.S. dollar index futures.
Volume increased to an estimated 24,824 lots from 23,708 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 5,403 lots or 23%, EFS 57 lots and EFP nine lots. Options volume totaled 3,913 calls and 4,740 puts.
Net U.S. all-cotton export sales for shipment this season at a marketing year low of 44,900 running bales for the week ended July 31, down from the prior weekΆs 81,900 RB, nudged 2015-16 commitments to 9.603 million RB.
The new sales still narrowed the gap behind commitments a year ago nearly 20,000 RB to 1.827 million RB or to 16%. The USDAΆs export estimate of 9.2 million statistical 480-pound bales is down 18% from last seasonΆs 11.25 million SB.
Commitments were about 108% of the upwardly revised USDA export forecast, compared with about 105% of final 2014-15 shipments a year ago.
All-cotton shipments of 192,500 RB, down slightly from 193,600 RB the week before, boosted the total for the season to 8.605 million RB, narrowing the lag behind year-ago exports by 9,000 RB to 2.089 million RB or to 19.5%.
Shipments reached 96% of the USDA estimate, compared with 98% of final exports at the corresponding point last season. A rounded 319,000 RB remained to be shipped during the last 10 days of the marketing year to achieve the forecast.
All-cotton sales of 232,700 RB for shipment next season, up from 193,800 RB the previous week, boosted the weekly total for both crop years to 277,600 RB, up from 275,700 RB.
This brought cumulative new-crop sales to 2.537 million RB, widening the lead over forward bookings a year ago by 159,000 RB to 657,000. The sales amounted to 23% of the export forecast for 2016-17, compared with year-ago forward bookings of 22% at of the current 2015-16 estimate.
Meanwhile, an additional 2,314 bales classed Wednesday at Corpus Christi brought the two-day total to 5,160 bales. Bark declined to 30% from 84%.
Elsewhere, a weekly Texas AgriLife Extension Service crop roundup said several cotton fields in the South Plains already have reached physiological cutout at five or fewer nodes above first-position white flower.
Futures open interest grew 1,057 lots Wednesday to 237,380, with DecemberΆs up 823 lots to 181,254 and MarchΆs up 59 lots to 37,146. Certified stocks declined 1,061 bales to 113,658.
