Underlying mill fixations have offered support as traders await the weekly export sales and monthly supply-demand reports. Deadline to respond to the NCCΆs planting intentions survey is Monday.
Cotton futures couldnΆt muster much upside follow-through after bouncing off a slight overnight dip and closed an inside day with a small gain Tuesday.
Spot March edged up 20 points to close at 73.19 cents, a bit below the midpoint of its 88-point range from down 17 points at 72.82 to up 71 points at 73.70 cents. The overnight dip to the session low held a point above the prior-day low, while the high — touched around 8:40 a.m. CST — stalled 48 points from MondayΆs high.
May also gained 20 points, settling at 73.64 cents, and new-crop December rose 44 points to settle at 71.28 cents.
Volume slipped to an estimated 27,628 lots from 29,929 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 16,209 lots or 54%, EFP 163 lots and EFS 30 lots. Options volume totaled 2,587 calls and 3,463 puts.
Underlying mill fixations have offered support as traders await the U.S. weekly export sales-shipments report and monthly supply-demand estimates from USDA on Thursday.
The latest on-call data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed mills added 869 lots to their unpriced position in 2016-17 marketing year months during the week ended Dec. 30, while producers priced a net 10 lots.
The net call difference thus widened 879 lots to 78,764 lots (7.876 million bales), which was 35.14% of the open interest, compared with 34.73% a week earlier. The unpriced mill position in the March, May and July contracts outweighed that of producers by a ratio of 9.92:1.
In spot March, mills added 296 lots to nudge their unpriced position there to 39,296, while producers priced 655 lots to shave theirs to 5,138 lots. This widened net call difference 928 lots to 34,158, 20.74% of MarchΆs open interest.
Looking ahead, the deadline for producers to respond to the National Cotton CouncilΆs 2017 planting intentions survey is Monday.
Results of the widely followed survey, conducted to aid with industry planning and policy deliberations, will be released Saturday, Feb. 11, at the councilΆs economic outlook presentation during a joint meeting of program committees at its annual meeting in Dallas.
Questionnaires have been distributed to upland and extra-long staple producers across the Cotton Belt by regular mail and email.
Increased cotton acreage is generally expected in the United States and also in some other major cotton-producing countries.
A survey by Cotton Grower magazine reported earlier this month indicated U.S. producers intended to boost cotton plantings 7.3% to 10.887 million acres. The early intentions were associated with outstanding cotton yields in most regions in 2016 and flagging competitive crop prices.
Futures open interest increased 1,197 lots Monday to 262,699, with MarchΆs down 1,045 lots to 175,572, MayΆs up 492 lots to 43,096 and JulyΆs up 1,585 lots to 22,271.
Stocks in deliverable position increased 288 bales to 101,900. There were 1,256 newly certified bales and 968 bales decertified. Awaiting review were 1,756 bales at Memphis.
