The USDA-AMS Cotton Program provides and publishes basis and spot differences.  The basis is for base grade 41-4/34 cotton and differences are the market premiums and discounts offered by merchants surveyed for cotton fiber quality better or worse than the base grade.  USDA-AMS publishes monthly averages of this data but interim reports are also available weekly or daily or otherwise as often as the basis and differences change.  These reports are available in print and Excel spreadsheet format.  An Excel program has been developed which imports the AMS data and allows the cotton producer to input data from his/her Bale Summary Report (often referred to as a "recap").  The data entered by the producer includes the number of bales in each fiber quality category and the average bale weight.  The program calculates the Base Value and Premiums and Discounts for each quality characteristic including Color-Leaf/Staple, Strength, Micronaire, and Uniformity.  The Total Value is calculated for all bales (for the total recap) and the Average Spot Price per pound of lint.