Storm warning issued for Louisiana coastal area. U.S. weekly crop ratings declined as planting reached 94% completed. Good to excellent cotton in Texas dropped to 50% from 62%.
Cotton futures traded mostly lower early Tuesday, with December ticking near the session low despite a decline in U.S. crop conditions shown in USDA’s weekly report.
December hovered off 35 points at 68.69 cents, trading within a 64-point range from 69.29 to 68.65 cents on a contract volume of 3,122 lots. July traded down 27 points to $71.12 cents, trading within a 56-point span from 71.65 to 71.09 cents on a turnover of 521 lots. Thin October was up 14 points to 70.50 cents.
In outside markets, U.S. dollar index futures traded near the flat line, down 0.020 to 97.285, while Dow Jones futures ticked up a point and S&P futures down 1.75 points.
Crude oil shed $1.14 to $43.06, Brent crude lost $1.13 to $45.78 and August gold was little changed at $1,246.60. December corn was down 0.6%, November soybeans down 0.5%, July Chicago wheat down 0.4% and July Kansas City wheat down 1.1%.
Earlier, Asian stocks closed mostly lower, up 0.81% in Japan’s Nikkei 225 but down 0.31% in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, 0.07% in South Korea’s Kospi and 0.12% in China’s Shanghai Composite. European shares traded mostly higher, down 0.07% in Britain’s FTSE 100 but up 0.25% in Germany’s DAX and 0.3% in France’s CAC 40.
China’s Zhengzhou cotton futures declined and prices fell sharply on the China National Cotton Exchange. India’s MCX cotton futures were lower.
On the weather front, a tropical storm warning has been issued for the Louisiana coastal area from Cameron to Intracoastal City for late Wednesday or Wednesday night. Winds early Tuesday were near 40 miles per hour. Some slight strengthening is possible before the Gulf of Mexico system reaches the coast, the National Hurricane Center said.
On the U.S. crop scene, cotton ratings declined during the week ended Sunday, with good to excellent down five percentage points to 61% but up from 54% a year ago, USDA’s progress report showed after the close Monday.
Cotton in fair condition rose four points on the week to 33% and poor to very poor increased a point to 6%. The USDA report resulted in the DTN cotton condition index dropping nine points for the week to 158, up 12 points from a year ago.
Planting edged up to 94% completed, even with last year but two points behind the five-year average. Twenty-two percent was squaring, up from 21% last year and 20% for the average.
The Texas crop was 91% planted, compared with 93% last year and 94% for the average. Texas’ good to excellent cotton fell 12 points from a week earlier to 50%, compared with 48% a year ago. Squaring at 17% was up from 14% the prior year and the five-year average, and boll setting at 6% was up a point from average.
Dryland cotton in the southern High Plains was reported showing poor stands to no emergence. Poor stands were attributed to hail and slow emergence. Spider mites were seen in cotton in the Blacklands.
In cotton futures Monday, December finished lower for the seventh consecutive session. It settled at its lowest close since Dec. 20 but held at the low above Friday’s low.
The inverted July-December straddle traded from 340 to 225 points and narrowed 18 points to settle at a 235-point July premium on a volume of 4,279 lots. December-March traded from an inverted 15 points to 13 points carry and flipped 18 points to close at a 12-point December premium from a six-point discount on 2,045 lots.
Spot quotations were rolled from July to October. Base quality quotes were 75 points off in the Southeast, 150 points off in the Delta, 236 points off in Texas-Oklahoma, 550 off in the Desert Southwest and 450 off in the San Joaquin Valley.
The Cotlook A Index of world values was unchanged at 83.40 cents, reflecting a 400-point premium over the also unchanged Forward A Index.
