Cotton market: Prices halt further decline, rains slow down activity

KARACHI: The local market on Saturday remained stable and trading volume remained low. The Spot Rate remained unchanged at Rs 13900 per maund. The Polyester Fiber was available at Rs 222 per kg.

Cotton Analyst Naseem Usman Business Recorder that the reason behind low trading volume is rains in the cotton growing areas of Sindh and Punjab.

The Cotton production in the country will be 17 lac ninety one thousand bales till September 1, 2021. Cotton production in the country will be 100 percent more as compared to last years production in September 15.

According to the statistics released by Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association till September 1, the cotton production in the country will be 17 lac ninety one thousand bales. Although, the report the report was not published last year but the report will be compared with the report of September 2019 in which 13 lac fifty five thousand bales were produced the cotton production is 23 percent more and if we compared it with September 2020 the cotton production was 10 lac thirty five thousand bales which is around 7 lac thirty five thousands bales more around 70 percent more as compared to last year.

According to the estimates cotton production will be in between 22 to 23 lac bales till September 15 which is 100 percent more as compared to the last year’s production.

The rate of cotton in Sindh is in between Rs 13600 to Rs 14000 per maund and the rate of cotton in Punjab is in between Rs 13900 to Rs 14300 per maund.

The rate of the new crop of Phutti in Sindh was in between Rs 5700 to Rs 6100 per 40 kg. The rate of Phutti in Punjab is in between Rs 5700 to Rs 6200 per 40 kg. The rate of Banola in Sindh is in between Rs 1650 to Rs 1700 per maund. The rate of Banola in Punjab is in between Rs 1750 to Rs 1800 per maund. The rate of cotton in Balochistan is Rs 13800 to Rs 13900 per maund. The rate of Phutti in Balochistan is Rs 6100- 6800 per maund. Nearly, 1000 bales of Saleh Pat were sold at Rs 13975 to Rs 14000 per maund, 600 bales of Rohri were sold at Rs 13900 to Rs 14000 per maund, 1200 bales of Sanghar, 1000 bales of Tando Adam were sold at Rs 13450 to Rs 13650 per maund, 800 bales of Shahdad Pur were sold at Rs 13500 to Rs 13600 per maund, 600 bales of Khan Pur were sold at Rs 14250 to Rs 14300 per maund, 200 bales of Bagho Bahar, 600 bales of Khanewal were sold at Rs 14300 per maund and 200 bales of Lodhran were Rs 14150 per maund.

Cotton Analyst Naseem Usman also said that if by saying that the PTI government was supporting the cotton growers in every capacity, Federal Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam meant that the government was in fact doing nothing even as area under cotton cultivation shrank and cotton production diminished, then there was nothing wrong with what he said.

But politically correct lines that ministers are forced to take notwithstanding, it ought to be a matter of great concern that the Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAP) has revised downward the commodity’s production target for the year by almost 20 percent; from 10 to 8.46 million bales. And that’s because the cotton sowing target was first missed by more than 13 percent. The cotton market started Friday higher and ended higher. A softer US dollar, stemming from the wildly missed September jobs report, helped to buoy prices. In addition, traders are looking ahead to next week’s several cotton reports including crop condition, weekly export sales and the monthly supply-demand report.

The latter could prove very influential as USDA will supposedly address the rift between USDA’s acres and the FSA’s certified acres; at stake may be some 900,000 fewer 2021 acres.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021