Trading Monday at the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) began the week with December cotton regaining all of Friday’s losses as it reached a high of 64.93 cents before settling at 64.80 cents, up 90 points. July followed suit and ended the day up 71 points at 64.03 cents.
On Monday, USDA released its crop progress report for the week ended June 21. This report showed that the Texas crop was 91 percent planted, up 3 percent from the previous week but down from the five-year average of 98 percent. Of the Texas crop, 50 percent was rated good to excellent, 40 percent fair and 10 percent poor. The Oklahoma crop was reported to be 82 percent planted, down from the five-year average of 90 percent. In Oklahoma, crop conditions were 75 percent good to excellent with 25 percent fair. Eighty percent of the Kansas crop was planted, up from 76 percent the previous week with 60 percent of the crop being rated good to excellent.
The alternating high/low closes continued on Tuesday as futures returned some of the gains from Monday as December dropped to a low of 63.93 cents before settling at 64.55, down 25 points from the previous trading session. July cotton also saw a decrease as it settled down 45 points at 63.58 cents. The first notice day for July futures was Wednesday, June 24.
Wednesday, futures began the day trading on negative ground before returning to almost unchanged later in the session. July cotton reached a low of 62.50 before settling up 18 points at 63.76 cents. There were no notices issued for the first day of July’s delivery period. December moved to a high of 64.97 cents before ending the session at 64.59 cents, up 4 points.
Net upland sales of U.S. cotton were down 24 percent from the four-week average but up 15 percent from the previous week to 60,500 bales for the week ended June 18, 2015, according to the USDA’s weekly Export Sales and Shipment report. The featured buyers were Vietnam, Indonesia and Turkey. For the 2015-16 marketing year, net sales were 52,700 bales with Mexico, Indonesia and Thailand as the featured buyers. Exports were 187,600 bales, down from both the previous week and the four-week average by 10 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
Thursday, cotton futures saw some modest gains after beginning the session on lower ground. December cotton settling up 79 points at 65.38 cents after reaching a high of 65.68 cents. July futures gained 112 points, ending the trading session at 64.88. There were no notices issued for July cotton on Thursday. USDA will release its planted acreage report on Tuesday, June 30.
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