Some early U.S. planted acreage estimates have ranged on either side of the March intentions. U.S. export commitments stand at 105% of the 2013-14 estimate and 25% of the 2014-15 projection.
Cotton futures settled in the red in most-active December for the third consecutive session Thursday but halved the daily loss after skidding to a new seasonal low.
December closed off 63 points to 74.63 cents, just above the midpoint of its 164-point range from up nine points at 75.35 to down 155 points at 73.71 cents. The low was just below the 73.79 low posted on the December 2013 contract about nine days before it expired.
Maturing July finished lower for the sixth straight session, settling off 143 points to 80.37 cents. It settled just off the low of its 88-point range from 81.15 to 80.27 cents, a new low since Dec. 10.
Traders and analysts increasingly are focusing attention on USDAΆs planted acreage report to be released at 11 a.m. CDT on Monday. Some early estimates have ranged from 10.7 to 11.4 million acres, compared with March intentions of 11.1 million.
Projected abandonment wonΆt be included in this report but is widely expected to be reduced again in the July supply-demand forecasts when prospective U.S. production also is considered likely to be raised.
Volume increased to an estimated 20,300 lots from 18,812 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 2,761 lots or 15. Options volume totaled 5,951 calls and 7,313 puts.
Net U.S. all-cotton export sales for shipment this season of 4,600 running bales during the week ended June 19, second lowest of the marketing year, nudged 2013-14 commitments to 10.673 million bales.
Sales were below expectations, though a slowdown had been expected because mainly of a tight statistical availability of uncommitted old-crop supplies.
Commitments — outstanding sales plus exports — trailed year-ago bookings by 2.759 million bales or nearly 21%. The total is about 105% of the USDA estimate, against 106% of final shipments at the corresponding point last year.
New-crop commitments climbed to 2.369 million running bales on sales of 24,100 running bales, down from 103,500 bales the previous week. The margin over forward bookings a year ago widened to 374,000 bales.
Commitments for 2014-15 stood at 25% of the USDA projection. A year ago, forward sales were 20% of the current USDA old-crop export estimate.
All-cotton exports for the season reached 9.485 million bales on shipments for of 138,100 bales, up from 132,000 bales the previous week. Exports were 2.326 million bales or 20% behind shipments a year ago.
Shipments were 93% of the USDA estimate, which remained about the same as the percentage of final shipments a year ago. To achieve the estimate, shipments need to average roughly 140,000 running bales a week.
Futures open interest dropped 906 lots Wednesday to 144,552, with JulyΆs down 163 lots to 2,861 and DecemberΆs down 1,320 lots to 119,872. Cert stocks grew 4,213 bales to 448,798. There were 4,634 newly certified bales, 421 bales decertified and 17,971 bales awaiting review.
World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index fell 90 points Thursday morning to 89.70 cents. The premium to WednesdayΆs July futures settlement narrowed 89 points to 7.90 cents.
Forward A Index values for 2014-15 fell 95 points to 82.35 cents, widening the discount to the 2013-14 index by five points to 7.35 cents and the premium to WednesdayΆs December futures close by 28 points to 7.09 cents.
