LAHORE: The local cotton market on Friday remained steady and the trading volume remained low. The Spot Rate remained unchanged at Rs 20, 200 per maund. Fibere was available at Rs 263 per kg.
Cotton Analyst Nasseem Usman while talking to Business Recorder said that price of Punjab’s Phutti attracted per 40 kilograms prices from Rs 6500 to Rs 8900. Cotton of Sindh was traded from Rs 15500 to Rs 20,000 per maund, Punjab’s cotton was traded from Rs 16500 to Rs 20,000 per maund.
He also told that 4200 bales of Khan Pur were sold at Rs 21000 to Rs 22000 (conditioner) per maund, 400 bales of Feroza were sold at Rs 21200 (conditioner) per maund, 200 bales of Liaquat Pur were sold at RS 21200 (conditioner) per maund and 400 bales of Haroonabad were sold at Rs 18800 per maund.
Farmer across the country have been asked to to submit their estimates of cost of cotton production with Ministry of National Food Security and Research as the government seeks to determine an adequate intervention price for the 2022-23 crop, The News learnt on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s cotton sowing season starts from mid-March to mid-July in core and non-core areas, while picking starts from October to mid-January. For the cotton crop 2021-22, the government in August 2021 had approved seed-cotton (Phutti) intervention price of Rs5,000/40kg in a bid to encourage farmers to revive the shrinking crop.
Intervention price is fixed to safeguard the growers and in the event of a drop in price from that level, the state-run TCP (Trading Corporation of Pakistan) will procure it from farmers. This protection from exploitation encourages local farmers to cultivate more cotton.
Federal Minister for National Food Security & Research (NFS&R), Syed Fakhar Imam, while chairing the annual meeting of Agriculture Policy Institute (API) Committee on Seed-Cotton (Phutti) for 2022-23 said, “The government is focusing on revival of cotton, the largest cash crop of the country, through a number of programmes”.
Besides the government officials, representatives of growers’ associations, research scientists, experts, planners, and research departments attended the meeting. Imam said his ministry would organise the first cotton conference in March.
“Prime Minister will inaugurate this important event,” he said adding, “It will bring together key stakeholders at one platform to discuss the issues of the farming community, listen to best practices, and prepare an action plan for the future”.
Tahir Khurshid, Federal Secretary NFS&R, highlighted the importance of the economic gains from the crop, through better price of the produce, which was possible through quality seed, better management practices, and efficient use of inputs.
He asked the farming communities to share their cost of production estimates in order for the ministry to work out intervention price recommendations for the next crop. Empirical evidence indicates that in Pakistan, cotton production increased during intervention years. Cotton area and yield have increased during TCP intervention period (1998-2010) and decreased during the non-intervention period (2011-2020).
According to Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association’s (PCGA) latest fortnightly report, seed-cotton equivalent to over 7.4 million tonnes (or exactly 74,20,917 bales) reached ginning factories across the country till February 1, 2022, registering an increase of 33.19 percent as compared to the same period of last year. Earlier, the representatives of the cotton growers expressed their concerns related to cotton cultivation.
Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA) central chairman Shahzad Azam Khan on Thursday denounced the abrupt gas supply suspension to the value-added textile export industry, without serving any notice and offering any alternate arrangement, causing severe hindrances in industrial activities.
The PHMA Chairman, in an appeal sent to Prime Minister Imran Khan and Energy minister Hammad Azhar, has asked to take immediate cognizance of the aggravated situation and rescue the export-industries from inequitable conduct of the gas utility companies. He made a request to the Federal Energy Minister to pass directives to the distribution companies for restoration of gas connections of value-added textile export industry in the biggest industrial hub of the country.
He lamented that Prime Minister Imran Khan was all out to support the export-oriented sectors of Pakistan but some vested interests are bent upon frustrating the intents of the government by harassing exporters and hindering the unprecedented growth in exports.
According to him, exports from Pakistan have registered an impressive uplift over the last few months due to unflinching support by the Prime Minister and coordination of the Energy Minister Hammad Azhar but the pace of potential upsurge in exports may be retracted by unfriendly attitude of the gas company.
The PHMA Chairman observed that the export industries of Karachi have already been facing extreme gas outages and low gas pressure for the last more than three months despite of the assurance of the govt to supply uninterrupted gas to the export industries.
Nonetheless, rather to admit and take the responsibility of the current gas crises due to unwise planning the gas company Management has been blaming the top export industries as thieves which is highly deplorable.
Owing to favourable conditions across most of Australia’s cotton growing regions, the country’s production this year is expected to be second best on record, according to Cotton Australia. Australian cotton, which is among the best quality sustainable cotton, was impacted by drought in 2019-20 when its yield was less than 590,000 bales, followed by 2.8 million bales last year.
“Substantial rains late last year and early this year has growers optimistic, and if good conditions continue, a crop of around 5.2 million bales is possible,” Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay said in a press release.
Kay said some regions haven’t had enough rain and others have suffered severe flooding, but the majority of growing regions have benefited from warmer temperatures, good rain and manageable pest issues.
“It goes to show how diverse our cotton growing regions are with some farmers separated by thousands of kilometres. But what is clear is that most of Australia’s 1500 growers are busy preparing for a good year and hoping they can find staff to help them through to harvest.
ICE cotton futures fell on Thursday after a weekly report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed a decline in sales of the natural fiber crop.
The cotton contract for March was down 0.56 cent, or 0.4%, at 125.87 cents per lb by 13:22 ET (1822 GMT).
“I think the weekly sales report was neutral to slightly bearish. The combined sales were a good number, although it’s not as good as the last four weeks,” said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage in Cleveland, Mississippi.
The USDA’s weekly export sales report showed net sales of 185,200 running bales of cotton for 2021/2022, down 44% from the previous week and 47% from the prior four-week average.EXP/COT
On Wednesday, the USDA in its monthly supply-demand report raised the estimate for US stocks at the end of its 2021/22 crop year and projected a decline in the country’s exports.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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