Cotton prices again go up by Rs 200 per maund

Cotton prices, which reached the lowest level against its real market prices on Wednesday, once again shot up by Rs 200 per maund in the local market on Thursday due to rising demand and short supply, said the traders.
They said although over 50 ginning factories in Sindh and Punjab had resumed operations, they were, however, not operational in full capacity due to short supply of phutti. On Thursday's trading in the local market, early morning prices further went down by Rs 200 per maund to Rs 2,700 per maund from Rs 2,900 per mound, but in the evening, it surged up.
After reaching the lowest level, cotton prices shot up by Rs 350-400 per maund due to huge demand by the mills, which were trying to procure huge quantity of raw cotton at the cheapest rates. "Some deals of cotton bales have been finalised at Rs 3,150 per maund in Punjab and Rs 2,950-3,000 per maund in Sindh on Thursday evening," said Ghulam Rabbani, a leading trader.
He said that it was expected that the cotton prices would fluctuate between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,100 per maund in future, but he opined that any shortfall in cotton crop would also hit the prices. Despite rise in cotton prices, phutti prices have shown slightly decline of Rs 25 per maund from Rs 1,475 per maund to Rs 1,450 per maund, while it stood at Rs 1,700 per mound at the end of the last week, he added.
He said that market was still unstable and after some correction, prices of cotton rose up. However up and down in its prices would continue in future market trading, he added.
"Millers are buying raw cotton in a huge quantity, as its prices have declined by Rs 600-800 per maund during the last three days," said Naseem Usman, a leading broker. He said that the rising cotton demand had pushed its prices towards Rs 3,150 per maund, and added continued increase in demand would further affect the price. Some millers, including members and office-bearers of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) are involved in its price manipulation, Usman said.
"An office-bearer of Aptma has also brought some 3,000 cotton bales at an average price of Rs 2,950 per maund, while the market rate was Rs 2,700-2,800 per mound," he claimed.