Modest trading activity seen on cotton market

Modest business activity was witnessed on the cotton market on Wednesday as some needy mills came forward to make new deals at their psychological levels, dealers said. The official spot rate was inert at Rs9100, they added. In the ready session, about 3000 bales changed hands between Rs8400-9200, they said.

Rate of seed cotton per 40kg in Sindh low quality was at Rs 2800, while the best quality was unchanged at Rs 4100, and in the Punjab prices of low quality were at Rs 2800 while the fine type was available at Rs 4600, they said. In Sindh, Binola prices per maund were at Rs 1400-1800, in Punjab rates were at Rs 1650-1800, they said and the rate of polyester fibre was trading at Rs 173 per kg, they added.

Market sources said that a few buyers showed interest in forward buying to replenish their stock. The ginners who have not enough unsold cotton, unwillingly selling best quality lint against their psychological levels, they said. Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that we were expecting that prices to move higher owing to decline in phutti arrivals but in vein, because rates of cotton not going up sharply.

Adds Reuters: Cotton futures rose over 1% on Tuesday to scale a more than two-week peak after China said it would give tariff exemptions on imports from United States to fulfill trade-deal commitments. Cotton contracts for May rose 0.73 cent, or 1.1%, to 69.14 cents per lb by 01:37 pm EST (1837 GMT). Total futures market volume fell by 2,170 to 43,646 lots. Data showed total open interest remained at 211,866 contracts in the previous session.

The following deals were reported: 816 bales of cotton from Haroonabad at Rs8400, 400 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs8800, 600 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs9100, 700 bales from Sadiqabad at Rs9200 and 400 bales from Liaquatpur at Rs9200, they said.

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The KCA Official Spot Rate for Local Dealings in Pakistan Rupees
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                     FOR BASE GRADE 3 STAPLE LENGTH 1-1/16"
                    MICRONAIRE VALUE BETWEEN 3.8 TO 4.9 NCL
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Rate              Ex-Gin   Upcountry   Spot Rate    Spot Rate    Difference
                    For      Price     Ex-Karachi  Ex. KHI. As   Ex-Karachi
                                                   on  18-02-2020
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37.324 kg         9,100       160         9,260        9,260            NIL
Equivalent
40 kgs            9,752       171         9,923        9,923            NIL
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