All-cotton export commitments reached 85% of USDAΆs 2015-16 estimate and shipments climbed to 55%. Marketing certificate figured lower for the program week ahead.
Cotton futures closed on modest gains on hefty volume Thursday, rallying to the dayΆs highs after USDA reported stronger-than-expected weekly export sales.
Spot May settled up 28 points to 59.03 cents, just above the midpoint of its 81-point range from down 19 points at 58.56 cents to up 62 points at 59.37 cents. It posted the low in the early minutes of overnight trading, dipping below the prior-session low, and touched the high following the USDA export sales report, rising above WednesdayΆs high.
July edged up 16 points to close at 58.57 cents and new-crop December eked up nine points to settle at 58.21 cents.
Volume increased to an estimated 45,857 lots from 24,372 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 15,248 lots or 63% and EFS 110 lots. Options volume totaled 3,369 calls and 2,279 puts.
Net U.S. all-cotton export sales for shipment this season of 224,100 running bales during the week ended March 31, up from 98,600 RB the prior week, brought 2015-16 commitments to 7.818 million RB.
Commitments narrowed the gap behind year-ago sales by 160,000 RB to 2.413 million RB or to 24%. Combined outstanding sales plus shipments were 85% of the USDA export forecast, compared with 94% of final exports a year ago.
All-cotton shipments at a marketing year high of 344,100 RB, up from 205,800 RB the previous week, boosted the total for the season to 5.084 million RB. The lag behind exports a year ago still widened a bit to 1.352 million RB or to 21%.
Shipments of upland and Pima combined reached 55% of the USDA all-cotton estimate, compared with 59% of final exports at the corresponding point last season.
To achieve the forecast, shipments now need to average roughly 243,000 RB a week, while weekly sales averaging approximately 82,200 RB would match the export projection.
Net sales for shipment next season slipped to 28,700 RB — including 700 RB of Pima — from 35,200 RB the week before. This brought 2016-17 commitments to 1.111 million RB and slightly widened the lead over forward bookings a year ago to 190,000 RB.
On the competitive-pricing scene, the average of the five lowest-priced world cottons for the Far East gained 126 points during the week ended Thursday to 65.49 cents, according to USDA calculations, while the lowest quoted U.S. growth gained 120 points to 67.20 cents.
The U.S. premium thus narrowed six points to 1.71 cents. The adjusted world price for the week beginning Friday, reflecting transportation and quality differentials, is pegged at 45.74 cents, up from 44.48 cents. This results in a corresponding drop in the marketing certificate to 6.26 cents.
There again will be no fine count adjustment during the next program week for qualities better than 31-3-35.
Futures open interest gained 733 lots Wednesday to 233,248, with MayΆs down 2,413 lots to 95,864 and JulyΆs up 2,160 lots to 66,456. Stocks in deliverable position fell 9,130 bales to 36,316.
