Slowest weekly export sales since last October still widened the lead over commitments a year ago. Commitments for 2012-13 stand at almost 102% of the estimate and shipments nearly 90%.
Cotton futures closed slightly higher in most-active December Thursday amid positioning ahead of the U.S. planted acreage report and the final trading day of the month and quarter on Friday.
December settled up 18 points to 83.88 cents, around the upper quarter of its tight 82-point range from down 43 points at 83.27 to up 39 points at 84.09 cents. It touched the session high within the first hour of overnight dealings and again in the fading minutes after posting the low just after the weekly report on export sales and shipments.
Maturing July, the only loser, closed down 55 points to 83.13 cents, thinly traded October settled up 84 points to 86.13 cents and the others were little changed.
Volume increased to an estimated 13,300 lots from 10,933 lots the previous session when spreads totaled 1,623 lots or 15%. Options volume totaled 8,627 calls and 5,944 puts.
The USDA will release the U.S. planted acreage report at 11 a.m. CDT. An upward revision is expected from the March intentions of 10.026 million acres. Growers last year planted 12,315,400 acres, including 12.077 million acres of upland and 234,400 of Pima.
Tight nearby supply availability may have contributed to the slowest U.S. weekly export sales during the week ended June 20 since last October.
Net U.S. all-cotton export sales of 68,200 running bales for delivery this season brought 2012-13 commitments to 13.432 million bales. This widened the lead over commitments a year ago when there were big sales cancellations to 945,600 bales or about 8%.
Commitments stand at nearly 102% of the USDA export estimate, compared with around 110% of final shipments at the corresponding point last season. About 88% of the commitments have been shipped, against about 82% a year ago.
All-cotton shipments of 149,300 bales — slowest since November — boosted exports for the season to 11.811 million. The lead over exports a year ago narrowed by 48,000 bales to 1.641 million or about 16%.
Shipments are nearly 90% of the forecast, which is approximately the same as the year-ago percentage of final shipments last season. To achieve the estimate, all-cotton shipments need to average roughly 276,200 running bales a week.
Net U.S. new-crop upland cancellations of 7,100 running bales left 2013-14 commitments at 1.996 million bales, widening the gap behind forward sales a year ago to 454,000 bales. New-crop commitments are almost 19% of the USDA projection.
Futures open interest edged up 43 lots Wednesday to 157,084, with JulyΆs down 71 lots to 2,692 lots and DecemberΆs down 174 lots to 138,709.
Certificated stocks grew 9,109 bales to 596,374. There were 43,926 bales awaiting review for a possible total of 640,300 bales.
World values as measured by the Cotlook A Index fell 115 points Thursday morning to 91.10 cents. The index premium to WednesdayΆs futures settlements widened 26 points to 7.42 cents to July and 10 points to 7.40 cents to December.
