Unfixed on-call positions based in December declined 396 lots on the mill side and 134 lots on the producer side last week. Weekly AWP figured at 53.19 cents. Outstanding upland loans fell to 57,764 bales.
Cotton futures rallied from a shallow early dip in benchmark December to finish modestly ahead Friday and post the third weekly gain in a row.
December closed up 26 points to 66.18 cents, near the high of its 90-point inside day range from down 53 points at 65.39 cents to up 37 points to 66.29 cents. This marked its highest close since July 23.
A 38.2% retracement of the 1,588-point plunge from the June 23 high to the Aug. 1 contract low at 62.02 would be 68.09. The 40-day moving average coming into the day was 67.11 cents.
Thinly traded spot October settled up 96 points to 67.46 cents, widening the inversion to December to 128 points, and March edged up 15 points to 66.57 cents.
For the week, the market gained 386 points in October, 183 points in December and 132 points in March.
Volume slowed to an electronically estimated 12,200 lots from 19,649 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 4,594 lots or 23% and EFP nine lots.
Unfixed on-call positions based in December fell 396 lots to 11,445 lots on the mill side last week and dropped 134 lots to 21,836 lots on the producer side, according to the latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
This resulted in the net call difference widening 262 lots to 10,391, which was 9.09% of DecemberΆs declining open interest, compared with 8.56% a week earlier. The unfixed position of producers outweighed that of mills by a ratio of 1.91:1, against 1.83:1.
In the March, May and July 2015 contracts, mills added 692 lots and producers 410 lots, possibly including some rolling from December to March by both groups. This boosted the unfixed positions to 29,194 lots and 2,931 lots, respectively, and widened the margin by which the mill holdings exceeded those of producers by 282 lots to 26,263.
On the competitive pricing scene, the average of the five lowest-quoted world growths for the Far East edged up a point to 72.88 cents during the week ended Thursday, according to USDA, while the average of the lowest-priced U.S. growth landed there rose 45 points to 74.95 cents.
The U.S. premium thus widened 44 points to 2.07 cents. The adjusted world price for the week ahead eked up to 53.19 cents from 53.18 cents, USDA figures showed. The fine count adjustment for 2014-crop cotton edged up to 23 points from 17 points.
Meanwhile, repayments on 100,926 bales during the week ended Aug. 18 reduced U.S. outstanding loans on 2013-crop upland cotton to 57,764 bales, according to the latest USDA figures.
Upland cotton still under loan included 10,470 bales of Form A issued to individual growers and 47,294 bales of Form G issued to marketing cooperatives or loan servicing agents.
Futures open interest increased 193 lots Thursday to 167,317, with DecemberΆs down 1,218 lots to 111,669 and MarchΆs up 1,239 lots to 44,364. Certificated stocks declined 3,241 bales to 83,309.
World prices as measured by the Cotlook A Index held steady at 74.90 cents, narrowing the premium to ThursdayΆs December futures settlement by 11 points to 8.98 cents. The index gained 80 points for the week.
