Technically oriented selling persisted as cotton futures fell through some support points in heavy trading last week.

Traders digested USDA supply-demand estimates deemed mostly neutral to friendly on the basis of an unchanged U.S carryout and reduced world stocks outside China despite a new all-time high in total global stocks.

Spot May lost 367 points for the week ended Thursday to close at 84.66 cents, remaining below its 40-day and 50-day moving averages after settling below those marks on Monday. A 50 percent retracement of the rally from the low in November to the March high would be 81.48 cents.

May, which posted a closing gain only once in six sessions, traded to discounts to July as wide as 215 points, similar to the 229-point spread seen when the March contract was maturing.

July, now the open interest leader, lost 323 points to finish 86.74 cents and new-crop December shed 228 points to 85.66 cents, its lowest close since March 4. Trading averaged about 48,300 lots a day and ranged up to 52,600 lots.

Traders not wanting to take or make deliveries continued rolling May positions forward ahead of first notice day on April 24. Stocks in deliverable position grew to 443,393, largest since June 2010, with 37,388 awaiting review. Dallas-Fort Worth will become a delivery point starting with the December contract.

Cash grower-to-business sales totaled 2,738 bales on The Seam, against 1,944 bales the previous week. Prices fell to an average of 80.13 cents from 84.37 cents, reflecting a drop to 26.92 cents from 32.93 cents in premiums over loan repayment rates. Daily average prices ranged from 73.25 cents to 81.65 cents.

U.S. supply-demand forecasts featured offsetting boosts in production and exports, with ending stocks remaining at of 4.2 million bales.

Production rose by 280,000 bales to 17.29 million, based on USDAΆs end-of-season ginning data released March 25, and exports rose by 250,000 bales to 13 million, based on the larger supply and strong shipments to date. Domestic mill use was unchanged at 3.4 million bales. The stocks-to-use ratio dipped to 25.6 percent from 28.3 percent.

The crop-year average price received by growers is forecast at 70.50 to 73.50 cents, up 50 points on each end of the range, reflecting higher recent prices. The midpoint rose to 72 cents from 71.50 cents.

Globally, USDA raised beginning stocks by 1.18 million bales to 70.16 million and ending stocks by 710,000 bales to a record 82.45 million, an incredible 76.7 percent of mill use. Stocks outside China fell 790,000 bales or 2 percent to 36.84 million.

World production eased down 170,000 bales to 119.7 million, consumption gained 330,000 bales to 107.44 million and world trade jumped 1.8 million bales to 43.7 million.

Beginning stocks climbed mainly in India owing to adjustments to the 2010-11 and 2011-12 balance sheets. Production fell 500,000 bales in Brazil to 5.8 million, partly offset by the increase in the United States.

The consumption gain included a 250,000-bale boost to 22 million for India and a 100,000-bale increase to 2.2 million for Vietnam.

Higher world trade featured a 1.5-million-bale surge to 16.5 million in ChinaΆs imports, based on reported allocations of additional import quotas to mills. ChinaΆs stocks expanded a like amount to a new record 45.61 million bales, now 55.3 percent of the world carryout.

With ChinaΆs massive reserves under government control, more than half the world stocks are considered unavailable to the world marketplace.

Meanwhile, U.S. all-cotton export sales for shipment this season of 152,700 running bales during the week ended April 4, down from 168,100 the week before, raised commitments for the season to 11.781 million, 93 percent of the USDA estimate and up 309,500 bales from a year ago.

Shipments of 295,800 bales, against the prior weekΆs 384,100 bales, lifted the total for the season to 8.535 million. This is 1.341 million bales more than a year ago and is 68 percent of the estimate, compared with 63 percent of final shipments at the corresponding point last season.

To achieve the estimate, shipments need to average roughly 255,000 running bales a week.

On the U.S. crop scene, growers had planted 5 percent of their cotton acreage as of April 7, behind 9 percent a year ago and the five-year average of 7 percent.

Growers had planted 30 percent in Arizona and 13 percent in California, against the averages of 22 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Planting totaled 8 percent in Texas, three percentage points behind average, and 1 percent in Alabama, the only other state to report cotton in the ground.

Separately, informal USDA surveys indicated upland growers had forward contracted about 10 percent of their expected acreage coming into April, compared with 5 percent a year ago.

The survey, based on USDAΆs March prospective plantings report, includes cotton consigned to marketing organizations but doesnΆt include cotton contracted with those groups.

By regions, contracting totaled 27 percent in the Southeast, up from 8 percent in 2012; 14 percent in the Mid-South, down from 19 percent; 1 percent in the Southwest, against none last year; and 2 percent in the West, down from 4 percent.

In international news, BrazilΆs trade ministry said it cut the tariff on cotton imports, Dow Jones reported. Up to 80,000 metric tons (367,400 480-pound bales) can be imported from May 1 through July 31 without paying a 10 percent tariff. The goal is to ensure supplies for BrazilΆs textile industry before the cotton harvest starts in June.

The announcement by one of the Southern HemisphereΆs major cotton exporters could be viewed as another indication of tightening supplies outside China.

In other news, the China Cotton Association said the government would continue to stockpile cotton this year at unchanged prices as it seeks to continue stabilizing domestic production. This had been expected.