U.S. 2013-14 export commitments reached 88% and shipments 43% of the USDA forecast. Shipments slowed from a marketing year high but remained well above the weekly average needed to reach the estimate.

Cotton futures settled mixed in heavy dealings and choppy price action Thursday after rallying from triple-digit losses in current-crop contracts prior to USDAΆs weekly export sales-shipments report.

Spot March closed down 77 points to 87.60 cents, below the prior-day low and in the lower half of its 220-point range from down 157 points at 86.80 cents to up 63 points at 89 cents. The session saw completion of the big Goldman roll.

Most-active May eased off 10 points to close at 88.75 cents, in the upper half of its 228-point range from down 150 points at 87.35 to up 78 points at 89.63 cents, while July gained 28 points to 88.22 cents and December dropped 17 points to 78.15 cents. The July-December straddle hit a new intraday high at a 1,110-point premium on July.

Volume based on electronic figures rose to an estimated 53,100 lots from a cleared 48,148 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 35,253 lots or a whopping 73% and EFP for 384 lots.

Net U.S. all-cotton export sales for shipment this season slipped to 127,900 running bales during the week ended Feb. 6 from 179,500 bales the previous week and were down 64% from the prior four-week average.

But the sales for a week in which China was on holiday for the Lunar New Year lifted 2013-14 commitments to about 9 million RB, about 88% of the USDA export estimate. A year ago, commitments were 82% of final 2012-13 shipments.

All-cotton shipments remained brisk at 360,800 running bales, down slightly from a marketing year high of 382,500 bales the prior week but up 22% from the previous four-week average of upland and Pima combined.

Shipments reached 4.719 million running bales, 741,000 bales below year-ago exports but 46% of the USDA forecast, against 43% of final shipments at the corresponding point last season.

To achieve the USDA estimate, all-cotton shipments need to average roughly 227,800 running bales a week, while weekly sales averaging only around 49,400 RB would match the export forecast.

Net sales for next season climbed to 81,900 RB from an all-cotton total the previous week of 36,000 bales and boosted 2014-15 commitments to 536,900 RB, down 247,800 bales from forward bookings a year ago.

Pima net sales for this season were 7,600 RB, up from net cancellations of 300 bales the previous week but down 5% from the prior four-week average. Shipments edged up to 24,200 bales from 23,900 bales the week before.

Current-crop Pima commitments were 551,600 bales, of which 377,100 bales had been shipped.

Futures open interest expanded 1,699 lots Wednesday to 180,650, with MarchΆs down 8,781 lots to 44,497 and MayΆs up 9,322 lots to 84,373. Certificated stocks grew 1,932 bales to 244,820.

World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index dipped 25 points Thursday morning to 95.10 cents. The premium to WednesdayΆs March futures settlement widened five points to 6.73 cents.