Most-active May snapped an eight-session losing streak. Cotton classing reached 99% of the crop estimate. Gins in West Texas still had modules on their yards. Planting began in the Rio Grande Valley.
Cotton futures finished on strong gains on heavy volume Tuesday, jumping on big volume from a series of contract lows set last week amid a buildup of shorts.
- Most-active May settled above highs of the previous three sessions at 59.74 cents, up 110 points and in the upper quarter of its 141-point range after opening unchanged overnight and rising to a high of 60.05 cents. It snapped a string of eight consecutive lower closes.
- Soon-to-mature March closed up 95 points to 59.85 cents, in the upper half of its 148-point range from 58.96 to 60.44 cents. Exercised on the expiration of March options on Friday were 29,066 puts and 1,191 puts.
- July advanced 92 points to close at 59.99 cents and December gained 84 points to settle at 59.77 cents.
- A second day of strong gains in U.S. equities along with higher global stock markets offered support even as oil prices relinquished early gains and turned lower and U.S. dollar index futures strengthened.
- Volume rose to an estimated 68,009 lots from 48,093 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 33,341 lots or 69%, EFP 167 lots and EFS 100 lots. Options volume totaled 3,347 calls and 1,292 puts.
U.S. classing slowed to 107,366 running bales of upland during the week ended last Thursday, bringing the season’s all-cotton total to 12.385 million RB, down 21% from 15.657 million RB a year ago.
ThatΆs 99% of USDAΆs January estimate. Classing for the season included 11,969,432 RB of upland and 415,097 RB of Pima. No Pima or extra-long staple cotton was classed last week.
Cotton tenderable on futures contracts totaled 48.8% for the week and 55.4% for the season. A year ago, 68.2% of upland classed for the season met tenderable requirements.
Some gins in the West Texas Plains had a large number of modules on the yards and continued pressing operations, USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service reported in a weekly review. Overall, ginning activity slowed.
Classing for the week included 29,012 RB at Lamesa, 27,545 RB at Lubbock and 26,956 RB at Abilene. The Abilene total included 19,258 RB from West Texas and the remainder from Oklahoma and Kansas.
The season was completed in Kansas, while some Oklahoma gins continued operations and others finished their seasonal runs.
Planting was underway in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. A 5.6% statewide increase in cotton plantings foreseen in the National Cotton CouncilΆs early survey was expected to come from a large boost in South Texas on acres coming back into production which werenΆt planted last year owing to excessive moisture.
Ginning activity neared completion in the lower Southeast. Classing of 20,819 RB at Macon upped the seasonΆs total there to 2.688 million RB, compared with 3.104 million RB a year ago.
Clear, windy weather helped flooded fields to begin drying out in the Delta. Fieldwork was underway on higher ground in South Delta and in fields with light-textured soils.
Limited ginning continued in Arizona. Industry people were in general agreement with the NCC planting intentions for Arizona and New Mexico, though some thought the upland acreage may be overstated.
No moisture was recorded in the San Joaquin Valley. February normally is the wettest month for California, but a dry weather pattern has set in. Temperatures were unseasonably warm.
Futures open interest declined 3,490 lots Friday to 203,891, with MarchΆs down 12,542 lots to 44,893 and MayΆs up 8,093 lots to 97,669. Cert stocks increased 1,523 bales to 37,821.
