Cotton futures fell to sharp losses Monday after the U.S. plantings report came in on the high side of trade estimates.

Benchmark December settled down 134 points to 73.51 cents, a new two-year low finish and in the lower quarter of its 177-point range from up 22 points at 75.07 to down 155 points at 73.30 cents. For the month, it lost 396 points or 5.1%.

Maturing July shed 168 points to close at 79.21 cents, its lowest finish since November and down 706 points or 8.2% for the month.

Volume totaled an estimated 18,300 lots, against a corrected 9,400 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 1,589 lots or 18%, EFP 156 lots and EFS 110 lots. Options volume totaled 1,201 calls and 4,827 puts.

Producers planted an estimated 11.369 million acres of upland and Pima cotton, up 9.2% from 10.407 million acres seeded a year ago, USDAΆs National Agricultural Statistics Service reported.

Upland plantings expanded 9.7% to 11.191 million acres from last yearΆs 10.206 million and the Pima area fell 11.4% to 178,000 acres from 201,000 acres. Growers increased upland acres in three major producing regions and cut cotton acres in the drought-stricken Far West.

The upland area rose 3.6% to 2.763 million acres from 2.667 million in the Southeast, 18.2% to 1.46 million from 1.235 million in the Mid-South and 12% to 6.733 million from 6.012 million in the Southwest. Upland acres in the West fell 19.5% to 235,000 from 292,000.

Growers in top-producing Texas planted 6.45 million acres of upland, 57.6% of the U.S. acreage and up 11.2% from 5.8 million acres in 2013. Recent rains will give acres for harvest an undetermined proportional boost from the 3.1 million acres harvested in 2013-14 when mainly drought-related losses took a huge 46.6% bite out of the planted area.

All-cotton plantings are up from the March intentions of 11.1 million acres.

A survey by The Wall Street Journal had put analystsΆ expectations at an average of 11.11 million acres within a range from 10.7 million to 11.5 million acres.

Producers planted 96% of their acreage with seed varieties developed using biotechnology, up six percentage points from last year.

Varieties containing bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) were planted on 5%, down three points, and herbicide resistant varieties on 12%, also down three points. Stacked gene varieties, those containing both insect and herbicide resistance, were planted on 79%, up 12 points.

The plantings report is based primarily on surveys conducted during the first two weeks of June.

Much attention now will focus on the July 11 supply-demand report when USDA will be expected to incorporate the new plantings data, reduce its June projection of 21.2% abandonment and raise its crop forecast.

The June acreage estimates for the last 20 years have been below the final cotton plantings 11 times and above the actual area nine times. Changes from the mid-year estimates and the final figures have averaged 296,000 acres, ranging from a mere 3,000 acres to 992,000 acres.

Futures open interest edged up 189 lots Friday to 144,088, with JulyΆs down 47 lots to 2,300 and DecemberΆs up 196 lots to 119,248. Cert stocks grew 2,805 bales to 455,532. There were 4,831 newly certified bales, 2,026 bales decertified and 20,842 bales awaiting review.

World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index gained 25 points Monday morning to 89.55 cents. The premium to FridayΆs July futures settlement narrowed 27 points to 8.66 cents.

Forward A Index values for 2014-15 rose 30 points to 82.15 cents, narrowing the discount to the 2013-14 index by five points to 7.40 cents and widening the premium to FridayΆs December futures close by eight points to 7.30 cents.