By Duane Howell, DTN Cotton Correspondent
5 – 1- 13
Cotton futures extended losses Friday even after U.S. weekly export sales data came in about as mostly expected. Spot March hovered off 89 points at 8:16 a.m. CST, trading within a 180-point range from 75.82 cents to 74.02 cents on a contract volume of 7,727 lots. It fell below lows of the previous two weeks. Net all-cotton export sales for delivery this season slipped to 197,800 running bales during the week ended Dec. 27, USDA reported, down from 298,000 bales the previous week.
Upland net sales of 180,600 bales were down 36% from the previous week and 45% from the prior four-week average. China booked 51,500 bales or 29%, with 36,000 bales for Turkey, 24,000 for Vietnam, 22,000 for Mexico, 15,300 for Taiwan and 15,200 for Indonesia. Gross sales were 212,100 bales and cancellations were 31,500 bales.
All-cotton shipments edged up to 190,400 running bales from 187,200 bales, with upland shipments of 182,500 bales up 5% from the previous week but down 1% from the prior four-week average. Separately, U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department reported, while the unemployment rate stayed at 7.8%. The November unemployment rate was revised upward from the initial report of 7.7%. The report was close to expectations.
In outside markets, Dow Jones futures traded up 15 points and S&P futures up 3.25, while dollar index futures gained 0.140 to 80.655, crude oil dipped 38 cents to $92.54, Brent crude shed 95 cents to $111.19 and gold lost $25.40 to $1,648.30. Corn traded lower, soybeans higher, Chicago wheat lower and Kansas City wheat higher.
China’s Zhengzhou cotton futures settled mostly higher, with January up 25 yuan or 0.13% and most-active May up 30 yuan or 0.16%.
In the U.S. market Thursday, March settled virtually unchanged after spending the session trading inside the prior-day range. The March-May spread traded between premiums on May of 88 and 70 points and narrowed four points to settle at 83 on a volume of 1,794 lots, while May-July traded between premiums on July of 104 and 93 points and tightened six points to close at 102 on a volume of 1,069 lots. July’s settlement discount to December narrowed 12 points to 223.
In cash trading, grower-to-business sales declined to 8,252 bales on The Seam from 10,165 bales the previous session. Prices fell to an average of 66.63 cents from 68.66 cents as premiums over loan repayment rates dropped to 16.55 cents from 17.24 cents. Business-to-business sales climbed to 5,819 bales from 1,096 bales on prices averaging 66.81 cents, down from 70.28 cents, and premiums of 17.96 cents, down from 18.91 cents.
The grower sales included 5,181 bales of staples 35 or more and 1,538 bales of staples 34 or less, while the business sales included 4,281 bales and 1,538 bales, respectively. Sales included 1,259 bales from the Southeast and 6,993 bales from the Southwest on the grower exchange, and the turnover on the business platform included 349 bales and 5,470 bales from those respective regions. (Source: Agfax.com)