All-cotton export commitments trailed year-ago bookings by 994,000 running bales. U.S. landed premium to Far East narrowed.
Cotton futures fell to a new low for the move for the second straight session and settled near there Thursday.
Benchmark December closed down 51 points to 83.24 cents, a couple of ticks off the low of its 93-point range from up 40 points at 84.15 to down 53 points at 83.22 cents. It printed its lowest intraday price since July 1 and settled at its lowest close since June 24.
October dipped 41 points to settle at 83.60 cents and March dropped 51 points to close at 82.31 cents.
Volume increased to an estimated 18,300 lots from 16,636 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 4,400 lots or 26%, EFS 56 lots and EFP 14 lots. Options volume totaled 7,557 calls and 6,486 puts.
Net U.S. all-cotton export sales of 79,000 running bales during the week ended Aug. 22 brought 2013-14 commitments to 3.573 million bales, widening the gap behind cumulative sales a year ago to 994,000 RB.
Commitments totaled about 35% of the USDA forecast, compared with about 36% of the current 2012-13 estimate a year ago. Sales need to average roughly 139,800 running bales a week over the next 48 weeks to reach the USDA projection.
All-cotton shipments of 201,000 running bales boosted exports for the season to 774,300 RB, up 265,000 bales from a year ago. Shipments were nearly 8% of the estimate, against about 4% at the corresponding point last season.
To achieve the August forecast, shipments need to average approximately 198,100 running bales a week.
Meanwhile, the average of the five lowest-priced world growths for the Far East fell 452 points to 89 cents during the week ended Thursday, according to USDA, while the lowest-quoted U.S. cotton landed there lost 571 points to 93.69 cents. The U.S. landed premium narrowed 119 points to 4.69 cents.
The adjusted world price for the program week ahead is 68.76 cents, USDA announced, down from 73.28 cents for the past week. Fine count adjustments for qualities better than 31-3-35 are 82 points for 2013-crop cotton and 67 points for the 2012 crop.
Futures open interest continued to decline amid speculative long liquidation, falling 1,204 lots to 182,322, with DecemberΆs down 1,870 lots to 135,813 and MarchΆs up 640 lots to 35,067l.
Certificated stocks also continued to fall, dropping 2,193 bales to 23,471. There were 4,225 bales awaiting review.
World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index fell 40 points Thursday morning to 89.55 cents. The premium to WednesdayΆs December futures close was unchanged at 5.80 cents.
