U.S. producers have booked about 6% of their expected upland acres. Plants grew rapidly in Georgia. Delta crop made good progress. Plains producers used rotary hoes to break soil crust. Fields at Yuma entered first bloom. Growers in the SJV replanted some upland to beans and Pima.

Cotton futures settled lower Monday as July lost ground for the fourth session in a row but managed to widen its premium over December, which has taken the lead in open interest.

July settled down 23 points to 84.55 cents, its lowest close since Jan. 14 but a few ticks above the midpoint of its 88-point range from up 17 points at 84.95 to down 71 points at 84.07 cents. The low was slightly above the intraday low for the move of 83.86 cents on May 28.

December closed off 71 points to 77.29 cents, just below the middle of its 92-point range from down 20 points at 77.80 to down 112 points at 76.88 cents, a tick above last weekΆs low. It posted its lowest close since Feb. 26.

Volume totaled an estimated 31,500 lots, against 32,425 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 20,422 lots or 63%, EFP 483 lots and EFS 84 lots. Options volume totaled 1,710 calls and 2,892 puts.

U.S. producers had contracted about 6% of their expected upland acreage by June 1, down from 11% a year ago and the smallest since they had booked only about 2% in 2009.

The estimates are based on informal surveys by the cotton division of USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service and the National Agricultural Statistics ServiceΆs March prospective plantings report. They donΆt include cotton consigned to marketing organizations but do include cotton contracted with them.

Contracting has been most active at 12% in the Southeast and 5% in the Mid-South, down from bookings a year ago of 29% and 16%, respectively. Growers had contracted 4% in the Southwest, up from 2% a year ago, and less than 0.5% in the West, down from 2% last year.

Separately, young plants were growing rapidly in Georgia where some of the earliest fields were at the four or five-leaf stage, USDA said Friday in a weekly review.

Specialists throughout the Southeast urged growers to monitor fields closely for emerging Palmer Amaranth (pigweed), saying itΆs critical to target those weeds at four inches or less to achieve adequate control.

The crop made good progress in the Delta. Fields were squaring. Cotton was treated for thrips as needed in the North Delta. Spider mite numbers were building but hadnΆt required treatment. Pressure from thrips diminished in the South Delta but was building from fleahoppers. Fields were treated as needed for cutworms.

Recent rainfall enhanced plant development Rio Grande Valley and South Texas, but dryland cotton was going to require more to achieve economically meaningful yields.

Producers in the West Texas Plains used rotary hoes to break up soil compacted by rain throughout the region. Warm weather — temperatures in some areas reached 100 degrees — helped seedling stands to progress.

Fields at Yuma, Ariz., had entered first bloom. Producers at Las Cruces, N.M., were allotted six inches of irrigation water, compared with 3.5 inches last season.

Stands made steady progress under warm, sunny conditions in the San Joaquin Valley. Producers had begun to irrigate. Some upland cotton was replanted to beans or Pima because of Race 4 fusarium wilt. An estimated three-fourths of the cotton area in the valley has been planted to Pima.

Futures open interest fell 2,841 lots Friday to 181,422, with JulyΆs down 6,516 lots to 80,517 and DecemberΆs up 2,747 lots to 85,947. This marked the first time that DecemberΆs OI topped JulyΆs.

Certificated stocks grew 269 bales to 411,380. There were 893 newly certified bales, 624 bales decertified and 10,021 bales awaiting review, lured by the July premium.

World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index dropped 60 points Monday morning to 89.55 cents. The premium to FridayΆs July futures settlement widened 12 points to 4.77 cents.

Forward A Index values rose 35 points to 85.60 cents, narrowing the discount to the 2013-14 index by 95 points to 3.95 cents and the premium to FridayΆs December futures close by three points to 7.60 cents.