Traders awaited the weekly U.S. export sales-shipments report. Bangladesh, the worldΆs largest cotton importer, expanded its share of world trade.
Cotton futures settled narrowly mixed on brisk volume Wednesday, with spot December chopping back and forth within a trading range established by early morning.
December eased off five points to close at 71.10 cents, in the upper quarter of its 105-point range from 71.27 to 70.22. It managed a 12-point gain in the early minutes of overnight trading, fell to a 93-point loss around 6:20 a.m. CDT and that was the range for the entire session.
March settled up a single tick to 71.45 cents, while December 2017 edged up seven points to 70.95 cents.
Volume increased to an estimated 44,343 lots from 27,818 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 13,738 lots or 49%, EFS 92 lots and EFP 35 lots. Options volume totaled 1,756 calls and 1,650 puts.
Traders awaited U.S. weekly export sales-shipments data from USDA, scheduled for release at 7:30 a.m. CDT on Thursday.
Closing futures prices for the reporting week ended Oct. 13 ranged from 66.98 to 69.31 cents, basis spot December. The period included USDAΆs monthly supply-demand report on Oct. 12.
Net upland sales the previous week of 226,919 running bales were a five-week high and upland shipments of 152,069 RB were a four-week low. Upland sales the last four weeks have averaged 168,800 RB and shipments have averaged 168,900 RB.
Meanwhile, USDA has revised its estimates and forecasts for mill use and imports for Bangladesh — the worldΆs largest cotton importer — substantially upward as more detailed 2015-16 data has become available.
Imports were raised by 500,000 bales for 2015-16 to 6.2 million and consumption was raised a more moderate 300,000 bales to 6.1 million. Market reports have attested to growth of spinning.
For 2016-17, imports were boosted 400,000 bales to 6.3 million and mill use by 400,000 bales also to 6.4 million. The increase in imports raises BangladeshΆs share of global imports to just over 18%, more than double that of five years before.
This large change in BangladeshΆs imports in turn impacts cotton exporters, especially West African origins such as Benin and Burkina Faso, and Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan.
Indeed, demand in Bangladesh for Uzbek cotton has been substantially stronger than previously believed, resulting in a sizable upward revision in the 2015-16 Uzbek export estimate. The Central Asian export estimate for last season was raised 300,000 bales to 4.36 million.
Futures open interest expanded 6,685 lots Tuesday to 252,761, with DecemberΆs up 1,629 lots to 147,884 and MarchΆs up 4,050 lots to 70,819. Cert stocks declined 174 bales to 28,895.
