Planting of cotton inched to 3% done in Texas as warm, windy conditions prevailed across many areas of the Lone Star State. Topsoil moisture rated short to very short in 80% of the southern High Plains.
Cotton futures settled fractionally lower in narrow-range price action Tuesday as expanded fiber crop prospective plantings expected to be reported Friday appeared to weigh on market sentiment.
Spot May settled down six points to 76.88 cents, in the lower quarter of its 81-point range from down 24 points at 76.70 to up 57 points at 77.51 cents. This was its lowest close since last Tuesday.
July closed down three ticks to 78.28 cents, trading within a 71-point span between 78.10 and 78.81 cents. December dipped 13 points to finish at 74.89 cents, in the upper third of its 65-point range between 74.44 and 75.09 cents.
Strong gains in consumer confidence and home prices spurred gains in U.S. stock market indexes, crude oil traded to a six-session high and U.S. dollar index futures strengthened.
Corn closed up 0.6% in May and 0.4% in December, while soybeans finished little changed in May and up 0.1% in November. May Chicago wheat settled up 0.9% and May Kansas City wheat added 0.6%.
Cotton volume increased to an estimated 27,923 lots from 25,428 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 54% and EFP seven lots. Options volume rose to 6,139 lots (2,900 calls and 3,239 puts) from 5,742 lots (2,330 calls and 3,412 puts).
Warm, windy conditions prevailed across many areas of Texas as cotton planting inched to 3% done during the week ended Sunday, compared with 2% a year ago and 4% for the five-year average.
Strong winds damaged some crops in the Trans Pecos, USDAΆs field office at Austin said Monday in its weekly crop progress and condition report. Rainfall in northeastern Texas ranged between a quarter of an inch and 2.5 inches, but most areas of the state got less than 0.25 inch.
A prolonged period of winds sustained at 30 to 40 miles per hour, with gusts well into the 50s, swept across the West Texas Plains Thursday and Friday, lifting a fair amount of dust and painting a brown skyline in the Lubbock area.
Topsoil moisture in the Texas High Plains was short to very short in 80% of the southern crop district and 63% in the northern area, the USDA report showed. Subsoil moisture was short to very short in 61% of the southern area and 53% in the north.
The High Plains last year accounted for 65% of the planted cotton area in Texas, the top cotton-producing state.
A front moving out of New Mexico was expected to bring thunderstorms Tuesday from mainly the eastern High Plains into the Rolling Plains. Anywhere from a tenth to half an inch of rain was expected in the Lubbock area, with amounts increasing as the thunderstorms moved eastward.
March rainfall at Lubbock through Monday had totaled 0.13 of an inch, 0.82 inch below normal and down from 0.20 inch a year ago. Since Jan. 1, however, precipitation of 3.05 inches was up from a normal of 2.35 inches and from 0.59 inch last year.
Futures open interest declined 907 lots Monday to 281,927, with MayΆs down 2,957 lots to 148.919, JulyΆs up 2,093 lots to 54,168 and DecemberΆs down 120 lots to 69,688 lots. Certified stocks remained at 326,221 bales for the seventh consecutive session.
