Final U.S. 2015-16 production showed small regional revisions. Texas crop trimmed 30,000 bales, while High Plains output reduced 202,300 bales. Lackluster weekly export sales expected.
Cotton futures finished at another new low settlement for the move Wednesday, retreating to a modest closing loss after rallying from just below the prior-day low.
Spot July closed down 30 points to 60.60 cents, trading within a 120-point range from down 35 points at 60.55 to up 85 points at 61.75 cents. This was a new low close since April 15 when July settled at 60.02 cents.
December finished down 33 points to 60.58 cents, also its lowest close since April 15 and back near the morning low after trading within a 90-point band from down 43 points at 60.48 to up 47 points at 61.38 cents.
Volume slowed to an estimated 31,981 lots from 36,915 lots the previous session when spreads accounted for 15,930 lots or 43%, EFP 133 lots and EFS 85 lots. Options volume totaled 4,263 calls and 3,637 puts.
Final tweaks in the U.S. 2015-16 production estimate put the all-cotton output at 12.888 million bales, up 20,000 bales from the April forecast but down 55,000 bales from the annual crop summary in January.
The final crop tallies showed small downward revisions in all regions from the previous state-by-state estimates in January. The average all-cotton yield of 766 pounds per harvested acre was 63 pounds below the five-year average.
By regions, upland production compared with the January estimates was down 29,000 bales to 3.787 million in the Southeast, 5,000 bales to 2.037 million in the Mid-South, 18,000 bales to 6.129 million in the Southwest and 1,000 bales to 502,000 in the West. Pima production dipped 2,000 bales to 433,000.
While upland production in Texas showed only a 30,000-bale drop to 5.72 million, some notable revisions were seen in district figures.
Production in the two High Plains districts fell 202,300 bales from the January estimate to 3,797,700, with the more heavily irrigated northern area up 91,500 bales to 731,500 and the southern area down 293,800 bales to 3,006,200.
Final U.S. upland production of 12.455 million bales was down 21% from the prior year, with yields of 755 pounds per acre down 9% and the harvested area of 7.92 million acres down 14%. Upland plantings of 8.422 million acres fell 22% from 2014.
The USDA shaved its shaved its projection of the U.S. 2015-16 season-average farm price by 50 points to 58 cents and forecast the 2016-17 average at a midpoint of 57 cents within a wide range from 47 to 67 cents.
Meanwhile, USDAΆs weekly U.S. export sales-shipments report on Thursday is expected to show lackluster sales. The report will be measured against the new 2015-16 export estimate of 9 million bales, down 20% from last season and the smallest since 2000-01.
July futures lost 190 points for the reporting week ended May 5, closing at 61.79 cents, the low finish for the period and down from the settlement high three sessions earlier at 64.37 cents.
Net upland sales the last four weeks have averaged 74,850 running bales and upland shipments have averaged 226,710 RB.
Futures open interest fell 1,642 lots Tuesday to 186,343, with JulyΆs down 3,203 lots to 101,432 and DecemberΆs up 1,597 lots to 68,529. Cert stocks grew 2,828 bales to 71,898. Awaiting review were 6,476 bales at Memphis.
