Unfixed on-call mill position in May outweighed that of producers by a ratio of 7.32:1. U.S. all-cotton outstanding loans declined to 2.37 million running bales. Delta acreage switch talked.

Cotton futures fell for the second day in a row Friday in the wake of a much weaker-than-expected U.S. monthly jobs report.

Spot May shed 154 points to settle at an eight-session low finish at 86.79 cents, near the low of its 177-point range from unchanged at 88.33 cents to down 177 points at 86.56 cents.

July lost 140 points to 88.57 cents, trading from 89.98-88.30, and December fell 123 points to 86.71 cents, trading from 87.98-86.41.

A Labor Department report showing payrolls climbed by 88,000 in March, the smallest gain in nine months, stirred concern that economic growth in the worldΆs largest economy may not be strong enough to support demand for cotton goods.

For the week, the market gave up 167 points in May, 127 points in July and 66 points in December. The May contract finished within 67 points of last weekΆs low.

Volume rose to an estimated 45,300 lots from 43,604 lots the previous session when block trades totaled 8,506 lots, EFS 351 lots and EFP 259 lots. Options volume totaled 3,997 calls and 3,638 puts.

Unfixed on-call positions based in May dropped 670 lots to 10,654 on the mill side last week and rose by 454 lots to 1,456 on the producer side, according to the latest call data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The net call difference thus narrowed 1,124 lots to 9,198, which amounted to 7.64% of MayΆs declining open interest, down from 9.38% a week earlier. The unfixed mill position outweighed that of producers by a ratio of 7.32:1, down from 11.08:1.

In July, unfixed mill positions declined 902 lots to 18,977, while those of producers fell 1,130 lots to 3,201. This widened the net call difference by a slight 228 lots to 15,776 lots, 32.87% of JulyΆs rising open interest, down from 39.09% the previous week. The ratio of non-priced mill-producer positions in July widened to 5.93:1 from 4.59:1.

In new-crop December, mills added 370 lots to hike their unfixed position to 17,021, while producers nudged theirs up 20 lots to 10,626.

Meanwhile, U.S. all-cotton outstanding loans fell 135,385 running bales during the week ended Tuesday to 2,370,586, USDA reported. Repayments totaled 135,457 bales and entries were 72 bales.

Outstanding Form A loans issued to individual growers fell 9,335 bales to 221,448 and Form G loans issued to marketing cooperatives or loan servicing agents declined 125,050 bales to 2,149,138.

In upland cotton only, redemption of 131,343 bales left loans outstanding of 2,146,527 bales. Loans outstanding fell 37,159 bales to 375,556 in Texas and 28,017 bales to 395,744 in Georgia.

On the crop scene, more talk has circulated of corn acreage switching to cotton in the Delta because of cold, wet conditions. Also, a Delta source said, the big recent dive in corn prices and rally in cotton prices have furthered the switch.

Futures open interest dropped 825 lots Thursday to 210,894, with MayΆs down 9,356 lots to 98,169, JulyΆs up 8,200 lots to 67,099 and DecemberΆs up 192 lots to 43,379.

Decertification of 417 bales reduced stocks in deliverable position to 421,559, still up 3,388 bales from a week ago. Awaiting review were 31,667 bales.

World prices as measured by the Cotlook A Index dropped 85 points Friday morning to 94.85 cents. The index premium to ThursdayΆs May futures settlement widened four points to 6.52 cents.