Cotton Settles With Triple-Digit Losses

U.S. upland classing reached about 6.7 million bales, about 54% of the estimated crop. Tenderable cotton declined to 53% for the week and totaled 57% for the season.

U.S. cotton futures fell to steep losses Monday, giving back last weekΆs gain plus some in most-active March amid ongoing dollar strength, end-of-month adjustments and prospects for improved harvest weather.

March settled down 129 points to 62.64 cents, in the lower quarter of its 182-point range from up 17 points at 64.10 to down 165 points at 62.28 cents. It finished down a modest 36 points or 0.57% from a month ago.

Maturing December closed down 133 points to 61.30 cents and May fell 113 points to 63.43 cents. December, which last week traded within two ticks of its Sept. 24 contract low at 59.70, lost 202 points or 3.2% for the month.

Volume rose to an estimated 25,000 lots from 19,175 lots the previous session, an abbreviated trading day when spreads accounted for 3,497 lots or 18%. Options volume totaled 4,443 calls and 2,412 puts.

U.S. upland classing of 838,286 running bales during the week ended Nov. 26, down from 998,489 RB the prior week, brought the seasonΆs total to 6,699,496 RB, according to the latest USDA figures.

Cotton tenderable on futures contracts declined to 53% from 55.4% the previous week and totaled 57% for the season, down from 72.8% graded through the corresponding period last year.

The upland total lagged about 24% behind the year-ago classing of 8.798 million RB and amounted to about 54% of USDAΆs November crop estimate. A year ago, about 58% of the final production had been classed.

Pima classing of 33,919 RB hiked the extra-long staple total for the season to 229,641 RB and the all-cotton total to 6.929 million RB, compared with 9.09 million RB graded a year ago.

Harvesting was slow to advance in most areas across Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Georgia early in the period as soils remained saturated, USDAΆs Agricultural Marketing Service said in a weekly review.

Sunny, warmer conditions later in the period helped to dry fields and bleach out cotton remaining on the stalk. Ginning continued uninterrupted in those areas as most gins had accumulated backlogs of modules.

Similar weather conditions were seen in the Carolinas and Virginia. Producers in South Carolina attempted to navigate soggy fields and harvest salvageable cotton. Most gins resumed operations as modules arrived.

In North Carolina, wet soils delayed fieldwork, but producers resumed harvesting in fields firm enough to support equipment. Hard-lock and boll-rot were noted in later cotton that had just begun to crack open. Intermittent rain slowed fieldwork in Virginia, but harvesting advanced.

Most fieldwork was completed in the North Delta except on a few unharvested fields. Producers rushed to harvest ahead of showers late in the period. A few abnormally dry pockets persisted in Southeast Arkansas, but elsewhere soil moisture was rated mostly adequate to surplus.

Harvesting, stalk shredding and tillage advanced in the South Delta as soft soils firmed enough to support equipment in Mississippi. Most fieldwork was completed in Louisiana.

The overall quality of the West Texas Plains crop was good, but industry people were concerned about heavier leaf counts and bark content.

Ginning continued in Arizona. A couple of gins are participating in the cotton module averaging program for the first time. Gin managers are pleased with the module averaging classing results.

Ginners expressed concerns about a higher-than-normal percentage of leaf grade 3 reported in some areas of the San Joaquin Valley.

U.S. futures open interest expanded 5,529 lots Friday to 177,693, with DecemberΆs down 16 lots to 53, MarchΆs up 4,828 lots to 134,544 and MayΆs up 429 lots to 24,537. Cert stocks were unchanged at 63,958 bales.

World cotton futures settled down 163 points to 71.30 cents in the May contract, narrowing the premium to U.S. May futures by 50 points to 7.87 cents. Volume totaled 12 lots.