December closed on new high finish since Aug. 9. U.S. 2017-18 export commitments already stand at 50% of the USDA forecast and are 53% ahead of bookings a year ago. Exports slipped below last seasonΆs early pace.
Cotton futures pushed higher late in the session to finish on small gains Thursday after spending most of the day below unchanged.
December settled up eight points to 70.93 cents, a new high close since Aug. 9 and near the high of its 81-point range from down 58 points at 70.27 to up 23 points at 71.08 cents. It posted a new intraday high since Aug. 10 and finished with a gain for the month of 207 points or 3%.
March edged up 13 points to close at 70.11 cents, also near the high of its 82-point range from 69.43 to 70.25 cents. October managed a one-point gain, settling at 71.48 cents.
Volume slowed to an estimated 23,152 lots from 26,792 lots the prior session when spreads accounted for 10,757 lots or 40% and EFS 32 lots. Options volume increased to 10,607 lots (5,212 calls and 5,395 puts) from 4,682 lots (2,317 calls and 2,365 puts).
U.S. weekly export sales offered support, though down from strong sales the previous week, in view of the robust 2017-18 commitments, including rollovers of unshipped sales from 2016-17.
Net U.S. all-cotton sales for shipment this season of 239,600 running bales during the week ended Aug. 24, compared with 284,500 RB the prior week, boosted 2017-18 commitments to 6.489 million RB. Sales were slightly higher than expected.
Commitments — outstanding sales of 5.946 million RB plus shipments — already are about 50% of the USDA export forecast and are 2.37 million RB or 53% ahead of early bookings a year ago when cumulative sales were 31% of final exports.
The 2017-18 commitments are the second largest on record for this point of the season, topped only by 2010-11 when exports wound up at 14.38 million statistical bales from a crop of 18.1 million bales.
All-cotton shipments slowed to 158,100 RB from 222,800 RB, likely reflecting the current tightness of available supplies. This brought exports for the season to 704,600 RB, down from 734,500 a year ago.
Sales for shipment next season of 26,400 RB upped the weekly total for both crop years to 266,000 RB and brought 2018-19 commitments to 610,200 RB, up from forward bookings a year ago of 369,600 RB.
With expanded production around the world considered likely to provide increased competition for U.S. cotton this season, the USDAΆs 2017-18 export forecast of 14.2 million statistical bales is down 700,000 bales from last season.
The U.S. share of global cotton trade is projected to decline to 38.5% from 40% last season but to remain above the five-year average of 30%. Among exporting countries, exports by the United States are projected to experience the largest decline. Exports also are forecast to decline in India but to expand for Brazil, Australia and Uzbekistan.
Futures open interest increased 814 lots to 225,781, with DecemberΆs up four lots to 144,051 and MarchΆs up 819 lots to 57,653. Certified stocks declined 359 bales to 9,473 bales.
