U.S. cotton classed for the week crept up to 82,420 bales to bring the seasonΆs total to 359,485 bales, down from 1,102,742 bales a year ago. Mills and producers lightly trimmed unfixed December on-call positions.
Cotton futures climbed to a five-week high and settled with strong gains Friday as turnover quickened from the slow dealings of earlier this week.
Benchmark December advanced 116 points to close at 86.63 cents, in the upper quarter of its 150-point range from up a point at 85.48 to up 151 points at 86.98 cents. This was its highest finish since Aug. 20. March also gained 116 points, closing at 86.34 cents.
Reports of crop problems in China and India and uncertainties about the size and quality of the late U.S. crop powered the rally. These three countries are projected to account for 64% of the world 2013-14 crop.
For the week, December rose 211 points or 2.5% and March gained 193 points. The market has closed higher three weeks in a row.
Volume jumped to an estimated 24,300 lots from 11,687 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 3,801 lots or 33%. Options volume increased to 15,363 lots — 6,549 calls and 8,904 puts.
Underscoring the lateness of the small U.S. crop, classing crept up to 82,420 bales for the week ended Thursday from 71,873 bales the previous week to bring the seasonΆs total to 359,485 bales.
A year ago, 288,372 bales graded for the week brought the total for the season to 1,102,742 bales, about three times the current amount classed from the 2013 crop.
Tenderable cotton meeting quality requirements for delivery on futures contracts improved to 57.5% for the week and 51% for the season, compared with 47.3% and 47.5%, respectively, a year ago.
U.S. 2013-crop outstanding loans increased 15,432 bales to 46,379 during the week ended Tuesday. Entries were 22,080 bales and repayments were made on 6,648 bales. Loans outstanding were all Form G issued to marketing cooperatives or loan servicing agents.
Meanwhile, unfixed on-call positions based in December fell by a modest 363 lots to 22,126 lots on the mill side and 255 lots to 9,191 lots on the producer side last week, according to the latest call data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
These actions eased the net call difference 108 lots down to 12,938, which was 10.86% of the rising open interest, little changed from the prior weekΆs 10.99%. The ratio of unfixed mill holdings to those of producers was 2.41:1, against 2.38:1.
Mills added a light 328 lots in March and producers added 77 lots, upping the holdings there to 17,492 lots and 2,370 lots, respectively. The net call difference was 30.55% of MarchΆs open interest, and mills had 7.38 contracts to price for every one by producers.
Futures open interest increased 1,917 lots Thursday to 187,088, with DecemberΆs up 684 lots to 120,220 and MarchΆs up 910 lots to 52,982. Certificated stocks fell 2,193 bales to 11,909.
World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index rose 90 points Friday morning to 91.45 cents. The premium to ThursdayΆs December futures close widened eight points to 5.98 cents. For the week, the index gained 70 points.
