Thin business was seen on the cotton market on Saturday as main participants did not show interest in fresh buying as prices improved a bit and release of PCGA fortnightly report, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 3375, they said. Phutti prices in Sindh was same at Rs 1675-1725 and in Punjab prices were at the overnight level at Rs 1500-1600, (per 40 kg), they said.
According to the phutti arrivals figure released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) fortnightly report ended October 15, a total of 3.5 million bales arrived at the ginneries, showing above the last year's figure of 2.7 nillion bales. Some brokers said that due to good production of cotton locally, the country may depend less on import of cotton from other countries.
But the world recession has faded the hopes for improvement in the textile products, they said. On Friday, the NY cotton futures closed sharply higher for the second session running on investor and merchant buying, with brokers saying the surge should easily spill over into next week.
The benchmark December cotton contract firmed the 3.00-cent limit to finish at 52.57 cents per lb, with the session low at 49.65 cents. The contract had hit a lifetime low of 45.66 cents on Thursday before uncorking a furious rally. On Wednesday, the December contract finished at 47.54 cents in the worst close for cotton on the spot daily charts since the middle of May 2007. March rose 3.00 cents to end at 56.39 cents. Volume traded in the December contract stood at 10,388 lots at 2:43 pm (1843 GMT).
The following deals were reported: 2600 bales of cotton from Tando Adam sold at Rs 3250-3350, 1000 bales from Shahdadpur at Rs 3330-3350, 1000 bales from New Saeedabad at Rs 3250-3330, 1000 bales from Mirpurkhas at Rs 3250-3330, 400 bales from Khipro at Rs 3330, 400 bales from Hyderabad at Rs 3300, 800 bales from Arifwala at Rs 3325, 1200 bales from Khanewal at Rs 3300-3350, 1000 bales from Burewala at Rs 3300-3350, 1200 bales from Bhawalnagar at Rs 3275-3325, 200 bales from Fazilpur at Rs 3350, 200 bales from Jalalpur at Rs 3350, 200 bales from Layyah at Rs 3350, 200 bales from Mailsi at Rs 3300, 200 bales from Duniyapur at Rs 3300, 400 bales from Garth Maharaja at Rs 3300, 400 bales from Dera Gazi Khan at Rs 3350 and 400 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 3400, they said.
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The KCA Official Spot Rate for Local Dealings in Pak Rupees
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FOR BASE GRADE 3 STAPLE LENGTH 1-1/32"
MICRONAIRE VALUE BETWEEN 3.8 TO 4.9 NCL
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Rate Ex-Gin Upcountry Spot Rate Ex-Karachi
for Price Sales Tax @ 15%
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37.324 Kgs 3,375.00 100 3,475.00
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Equivalent
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40 Kgs 3,617.00 100 3,717.00
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