U.S. upland crop estimated 88% classed. Lubbock office hit milestone as classing topped 3 million RB. Most gins finished in Lower Southeast. Concern voiced about Delta gin infrastructure reduction. Ginning continued in Arizona. Water outlook much improved in San Joaquin Valley.
Cotton futures traded on both sides of the previous-session range and finished on slight losses Tuesday, unable to hold onto early gains.
Spot March settled down 16 points to 72.11 cents, in the lower third of its 106-point range from up 60 points at 72.87 to down 46 points and an eight-session low at 71.81 cents. It has lost ground four sessions in a row and in five of the last six.
May dipped 14 points to close at 72.62 cents, while December eased nine points to settle at 70.81 cents.
Volume increased to an estimated 26,541 lots from 24,517 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 13,600 lots or 55%, EFP 653 lots and EFS 192 lots. Options volume totaled 4,065 calls and 2,186 puts.
U.S. upland cotton classing slowed to 570,821 running bales during the week ended Thursday from 616,265 RB the previous week, bringing the season total to 14.065 million RB, 88% of the January crop estimate.
Classing of 18,969 RB of Pima, down from 22,900 RB the week before, raised the extra-long staple total for the season to 445,000 RB, up from 392,586 RB a year ago.
This pushed the all-cotton total to 14.510 RB, compared with 11.616 million RB graded through the corresponding period last season.
The Lubbock facility reached a milestone with classing of 3.065 million RB of 2016-crop cotton, while 1.324 million RB graded at Lamesa lifted the total for the two High Plains offices to 4.389 million RB. A year ago, the two offices had classed 3.744 million RB.
Harvesting advanced into the final stages in the West Texas Plains and sample receipts delivered to the classing offices had begun to decrease slightly, USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service reported Friday.
Some gins had completed the season, while others worked shifts to process backlogs of modules. A significant number of modules remained in the fields. The Abilene office had classed 952,330 RB, including 557,710 from West Texas, 348,142 from Oklahoma and 46,478 from Kansas.
Ginning was estimated 98% completed in Kansas and continued in Oklahoma. Warehouses were busy receiving and shipping.
In the Southeast, Winter Storm Helena brought snowfall totals measuring 4 to 7 inches in northern Georgia and western South Carolina, with heavier accumulations of 7 to 12 inches in West-Central North Carolina and Virginia.
The Florence classing office continued to receive samples from a few gins in South Carolina. Most gins had finished operations across the Lower Southeast and ginning rapidly neared completion.
A wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow moved across the Delta. About an inch of snow remained on the ground for several days because of prolonged freezing temperatures in the Memphis area. Less than an inch of precipitation was recorded in the South Delta.
An increase in 2017 Delta cotton acreage is expected, but some producers cited the high cost of new cotton equipment as a limiting factor in their considerations and some expressed concern about the reduction in ginning infrastructure in recent years.
The Visalia classing office estimated that about 89% of the Far West upland crop had been classed. The facility concluded the night shift on Jan. 6 and began an eight-hour day-shift operation on Jan. 9. Ginning continued uninterrupted in Arizona.
Planting intentions were hopeful in the San Joaquin Valley, bolstered by a tremendous amount of rain and snow in California the past two weeks. Though the water outlook has improved, producers will have to wait to know what water allotments will be from federal and state agencies.
Futures open interest coming into TuesdayΆs session was down 110 lots to 262,323. Certified stocks were reported up 524 bales to 111,498, with 5,998 bales awaiting review.
