Cert stocks rose again. U.S. upland classing increased to 616,265 RB last week and reached 13.495 million RB for the season, 87% of the crop estimate. Classing of 483,910 RB of West Texas Plains cotton made up 79% of the weekly total.
Cotton futures touched the session high in the first minutes of overnight dealings, hit the low in the late going and settled on a sharp loss at a four-day low finish Monday.
Spot March closed down 100 points to 72.99 cents, near the low of its 137-point range from up 19 points at 74.18 to down 118 points at 72.81 cents. An inability to build on early overnight gains and a new increase in cert stocks following a jump on Friday may have contributed to the weakness.
May lost 85 points to finish at 73.44 cents, while new-crop December fell 73 points to settle at 70.84 cents.
Volume rose to an estimated 29,929 lots from 28,863 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 11,070 lots or 38%, EFP 482 lots and EFS 15 lots. Options volume totaled 5,466 calls and 1,408 puts.
U.S. upland cotton classing increased to 616,265 running bales during the week ended Thursday from 420,289 RB the previous week, according to the latest USDA figures.
The upland total rose to 13.495 million RB for the season, 87% of the USDA production estimate and up 24% from 10.892 million RB of the 2015 crop graded through Jan. 7 last year. Tenderable cotton accounted for 67.1% for the week and 71.2% for the season.
Classing of 483,910 RB from the West Texas Plains at the Abilene, Lamesa and Lubbock facilities accounted for 79% of the weekly total. The three offices the prior week graded 276,715 RB or 66% of that weekΆs U.S. upland classing. Gins closed one or two days that week for Christmas.
A large crop coupled with harvest delays has forced many producers to keep harvesters running on the Texas High Plains, although the harvest is beginning to wind down, said the Lubbock-based Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., in a weekly newsletter. The PCG estimated the High Plains crop was 90% to 95% harvested.
Warehouses have received a high volume of cotton, causing some to lease more space to house the bales, USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service reported in a weekly review. Warehouse space is at a premium. Local reports indicated receipts have peaked and begun to decrease.
Gins operated around-the-clock last week, while several had finished and closed for the season. Some gins processed modules from a neighboring gin that experienced operational setbacks.
A quick warmup followed a strong Arctic front that moved into the region late Thursday, bringing 1.5 inches of snow overnight at Lubbock and more than twice that amount in northern cotton areas. To the south, only a trace of moisture was reported at Lamesa.
Sunny, warm, breezy conditions Monday were expected to see a high temperature of 74 degrees at Lubbock following a low of 7 degrees early Saturday when the thermometer showed 9 degrees below zero at Hart in Castro County to the northwest.
Rainfall last week slowed field operations in the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas. The moisture was welcomed ahead of the planting season about 60 days away. Some ginning continued in the Blackland Prairies as the final fields were harvested around thunderstorms.
Futures open interest increased 2,842 lots Friday to 261,502, with MarchΆs up 1,054 lots to 176,617 and MayΆs up 1,351 lots to 42,606.
Certified stocks grew an additional 10,973 bales to 101,973. The additions included 8,253 bales at Dallas-Fort Worth and 2,720 bales at Memphis. Awaiting review were 1,760 bales.
