KARACHI: Business remained stable on the local cotton market on Thursday. Market sources told that mills were involved in cautious buying due to which the trading volume remained low.
Cotton Analyst Naseem Usman told that according to the estimates released by the Cotton Crop Assessment Committee meeting held in Islamabad, the cotton production during the current season will be at 8.597 million bales against the fixed target of 10.89 million bales. However, according to the estimates of private sector the cotton production will below 7 million bales of 157 Kg weight.
Punjab assessed production at 5.30 million bales, Sindh gave target of 3.0 million bales, KPK 0.0065 million bales and Balochistan gave target of 0.291 million bales. The major reason behind this was non availability of good quality of seeds, absence of new seed technology, heatwave, climate change and pest attack.
Meanwhile, textile value-added sector has urged the government to allow duty-free cotton yarn to reduce cost of production and increase the country’s exports.
Naseem Usman told that it is expected that this year cotton production will be 35% less as compared to last year. He said that after the decrease in cotton production we have to import cotton of worth millions of dollar like we are importing edible oil of worth millions of dollars.
The government has almost finalised the Textile Policy 2020-25 with textile products’ export target of $20.8 billion and eight objectives starting from encouraging value addition, ensuring profitability of cotton growers to strengthen Pakistan’s expertise in manmade fiber, putting small medium enterprises (SMEs) on priority for infrastructure, compliance, energy efficiency, quality assurance and productivity projects.
More over All Pakistan Textile Mills Association claims that cotton crop failure is costing Pakistan over 8 billion dollar in lower GDP per million bales of cotton and 2 billion dollar for this year in additional imports..
Moreover, ICE cotton futures fell to a one-week low on Wednesday, tracking a drop in equities and grains, as escalating fears of a second wave of coronavirus weighed on the market sentiment.
The cotton contract for December fell 1.47 cent, or 2%, to 70.56 cents per lb by 2:11 p.m. EDT (1811 GMT). Prices of the front-month contract earlier hit their highest since May 7, 2019 at 72.60 cents.
Investors are concerned about the drop in financial markets, said Keith Brown, principal at cotton brokers Keith Brown and Co in Georgia. “We are also seeing harvest pressure come in and the market is grossly overbought and is trying to correct.”
Global stocks tumbled and grains declined on concerns that rising Covid-19 cases in Europe, the United States and elsewhere will force countries into lockdowns. Further weighing on the market, the dollar firmed, making cotton expensive for holders of other currencies.
Naseem told that 2000 bales of Khairpur were sold at Rs 9400 to Rs 9600 per maund, 1000 bales of Khanpur were sold at Rs 10,300 to Rs 10,400 per maund, 400 bales of Mian Channu were sold at Rs 10,400 per maund, 1200 bales of Haroonabad were sold at Rs 10,2300 to Rs 10,375 per maund,400 bales of Bagho Bahar , 400 bales of Bahawalpur, 200 bales of Chistian, 400 bales of Faqeerwali, 600 bales of Fort Abbas, 200 bales of Bahawal Nagar,200 bales of Yazman, 400 bales of Kachiwal were sold at Rs 10,300 per maund, 800 bales of Sadiqabad were sold at Rs 10,250 to Rs 10,300 per maund, 200 bales of Hasilpur were sold at Rs 10,250 per maund and 200 bales of Layyah were sold at Rs 9675 per maund.
He told that rate of cotton in Sindh was in between Rs 8600 to Rs 10,000. The rate of cotton in Punjab is in between Rs 9800 to Rs 10,400. He also told that Phutti of Sindh was sold in between Rs 4000 to Rs 5100 per 40 Kg. The rate of Phutti in Punjab is in between Rs 4400 to Rs 5300 per 40 Kg.
The rate of Banola in Sindh was in between Rs 1650 to Rs 2000 while the price of Banola in Punjab was in between Rs 1700 to Rs 2000. The rate of cotton in Balochistan is in between Rs 9400 to Rs 9800 while the rate of Phutti is in between Rs 5000 to Rs 5400.
The Spot Rate Committee of the Karachi Cotton Association stabled the spot rate at Rs 10,100 per maund. The Polyster Fiber was available at Rs 158 per Kg.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
Comments
Comments are closed.