U.S. upland classing slowed to 57,383 RB last week to bring the total to 16.065 million RB in the final the total 2016-crop report on lint quality. The total was up 33% from classing of the 2015 crop.
Cotton futures extended a losing streak to three in a row and four of the last five Monday as spot May settled at a seven-session low finish.
The May contract slipped 42 points to close at 76.87 cents, just off the low of its 77-point range from up 29 points at 77.58 to down 48 points at 76.81 cents. It closed below a 50% retracement (77.26) of the rally from 75.05 on Feb. 17 to the contract high at 79.46 last Monday and slightly above a 61.8% retracement (76.73).
July lost 51 points to close at 77.86 cents and December slipped 31 points to settle at 74.98 cents.
In the grains complex, May corn finished down 0.9%, May soybeans down marginally, May Chicago wheat off 2.3% and May Kansas City wheat down 2.8%.
Cotton volume dipped to an estimated 22,388 lots from 23,244 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 11,107 lots or 48% and EFP 127 lots. Options volume totaled 2,876 lots — 821 calls and 2,055 puts.
On the U.S. crop scene, classing of 2016 upland production slowed to 57,283 running bales last week from 77,504 million RB the prior week, USDA reported in the seasonΆs final report on lint quality.
This boosted the upland total for the season to 16.065 million RB, up 33% from a final 12.1 million RB graded from the 2015 crop. Upland samples were received from 43 gins for the week and 549 for the season.
Cotton tenderable on futures contracts totaled 54.6% for the week and 69.8% for the season, compared with a final 57.3% in the previous crop.
Classing of 3,645 RB of Pima brought the extra-long staple season total to 533,972 RB and the all-cotton count to 16.599 million RB. Pima samples were received from five gins for the week and 27 for the season.
Cotton from the 2015 crop classed through May 13, 2016 totaled 12,103,561 RB of upland and 415,983 RB of Pima. The number of active gins was 560, down from 601 in 2014.
Final 2015-crop ginning figures showed 12,528,950 RB of all cotton, including 12,112,750 of upland and 416,200 RB of Pima. The USDAΆs National Agricultural Statistics Service will issue a final report on 2016-crop ginning on May 10.
Last weekΆs report on ginning as of March 1 showed an all-cotton total of 16.59 million RB, up 32.5% from 12.517 RB million a year ago.
The classing run last week included 35,927 RB at Abilene, in the Texas Rolling Plains, with 884 coming from Kansas, 12,651 from Oklahoma and 22,392 from West Texas.
The two Texas High Plains offices at Lamesa and Lubbock classed 1,888 RB and 19,468 RB, respectively. This hiked the seasonΆs totals to 1,617,656 RB and 3,917,835 RB, respectively.
The classing total for the High Plains usually is slightly above the production total for the two area crop reporting districts because of geographical differences.
U.S. all-cotton classing was 99% of USDAΆs increased March production estimate converted to running bales.
Futures open interest hardly changed overall on Friday, dipping two lots to 273,844. MayΆs OK declined 428 lots to 159,703, JulyΆs fell 1,127 lots to 47,715 and DecemberΆs rose by 1,501 lots to 58,654. Certified stocks grew 88 bales to 324,928.
