U.S. all-cotton classing rose to 646,979 running bales last week, boosting the seasonΆs total to 1.617 million bales. A year ago, 4.452 million bales had been graded.
Cotton futures couldnΆt maintain modest early gains Monday and finished with slight losses and a new low close for the move.
Spot December settled off 43 points to 78.65 cents, near the low of its 97-point range from up 41 points at 79.49 to down 56 points at 78.52 cents. March dipped 14 points to 80.45 cents.
Northern Hemisphere harvest pressure contributed to pushing prices lower for the seventh consecutive session, analysts said. Early gains may have stemmed partly from fresh weekend business at the lower prices.
Volume slipped to an estimated 22,800 lots from 28,214 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 8,764 lots or 31%, EFP 203 lots and EFS nine lots. Options volume totaled 10,189 calls and 14,311 puts.
U.S. classing offices graded 646,979 running bales of upland and Pima cotton during the week ended Thursday to boost the total for the season to 1.617 million bales, USDA reported. This was down from 4.452 million bales a year ago.
Upland classing rose to 609,468 bales from 333,635 bales the previous week. This raised the seasonΆs upland total to 1.559 million bales, only about 35% of the 4.399 million bales graded through the corresponding period last season.
Tenderable cotton increased to 62.8% for the week and 57.4% for the season from 57.6% and 53.8%, respectively, the week before. A year ago, 50% classed for the season met tenderable specifications.
Most of the gins in the Corpus Christi classing office territory had completed the season last week, and fewer than five gins remained in operation. In Central Texas, harvesting and ginning had passed the peak, and some gins there also finished operations.
Breezy conditions were expected under partly sunny skies this afternoon in the Lubbock area of the Texas High Plains after low clouds and some early morning fog cleared out. High temperatures were expected to range from 76 to 81 degrees.
Only a trace to a few hundredths of an inch of precipitation fell in the area over the weekend. A 30% chance for showers and thunderstorms is forecast for Tuesday night and 20% on Tuesday.
Futures open interest gained 2,397 lots Friday to 202,563, with DecemberΆs up 437 lots to 108,737 and MarchΆs up 1,979 lots to 71,122. The board total had declined five sessions in a row.
Certificated stocks grew 4,566 lots to 113,769. Awaiting review were 30,628 bales, including 5,804 at Galveston, 9,671 bales at Greenville and 15,153 bales at Memphis.
The Cotlook Index of world prices was unchanged Monday morning at 85.95 cents. The premium to FridayΆs December futures settlement widened 13 points to 6.87 cents.
