Chances for isolated to scattered thunderstorms remain in the forecast for the Texas High Plains. ChinaΆs May imports of about 879,500 bales boosted the total for the season to 11.8 million.
Cotton futures again settled mixed Tuesday as July continued its surge to higher ground, while December remained under pressure from favorable U.S. crop progress and closed at a new low finish for the move.
July jumped 241 points to close at 90.06 cents, its highest finish since May 15 and near the high of its 275-point range from down three points at 87.62 cents to up 272 points at 90.37 cents. The intraday high was the highest since May 22.
December closed down 80 points to 76.32 cents, its lowest finish since November and in the lower quarter of its 136-point range from up 34 points at 77.46 to down 102 points at 76.10 cents. It posted the lowest intraday price since February.
The July settlement premium to December widened by 321 points to a new high close at 1,374 points.
Volume quickened to an electronically estimated 38,500 lots from a final 25,245 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 12,052 lots or 48%, EFS 2,994 lots and EFP 245 lots.
On the weather scene, chances for isolated to scattered thunderstorms remain in the forecast for the next several days for the Texas High Plains. Slow-moving thunderstorms could bring locally heavy rain, forecasters say. Widespread severe weather isnΆt expected.
Rainfall chances in the Lubbock area are rated at 30% each day from Tuesday night through Thursday, diminishing to 20% Friday and lingering into Saturday. The only cotton area measurement on Monday was 0.17 inch near Levelland on Texas TechΆs West Texas Mesonet site.
Hail probabilities often associated with springtime thunderstorms typically begin to diminish with the onset of summer later this month and a subsequent pattern of gentler rain and summertime breezes.
While pounding hail historically has wiped out crops in the summertime, losses have tended to be confined to smaller areas than violent springtime thunderstorms, which in some years have inflicted severe damage on several hundred thousand cotton acres in a single night.
Standing acres heading into July frequently are fairly close to the final acres for harvest, though hailstorms as late as October and an early freeze still cause significant damage.
On the international scene, ChinaΆs cotton imports last month of 191,500 metric tons or about 879,500 bales boosted the total for the season to 2.57 million tons or about 11.8 million bales, according to preliminary data.
This would indicate imports during the last two months of the 2013-14 marketing year would need to total roughly 1.7 million statistical bales or approximately 850,000 bales per month to reach the USDA the latest USDA estimate of 13.5 million bales.
Futures open interest fell 749 lots Monday to 25,245, with JulyΆs down 4,333 lots to 40,437 and DecemberΆs up 3,254 lots to 120,236. Cert stocks declined 1,548 bales to 416,692 bales. There were 2,573 newly certified bales, 4,121 bales decertified and 25,470 bales awaiting review.
World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index held steady Tuesday morning at 91.70 cents. The premium to MondayΆs July futures settlement narrowed 67 points to 4.05 cents.
Forward A Index values for 2014-15 dropped 65 points to 84.30 cents, widening the discount to the 2013-14 index to 7.40 cents and the premium to MondayΆs December futures close by two points to 7.18 cents.
