Slow trading was seen on the cotton market on Saturday as mills are still double minded due to rising asking prices by the ginners, dealers said. Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) official spot rate was steady at Rs 12,500, they said. In Sindh and Punjab phutti price of low type was at Rs 4000 and superior type also unchanged at Rs 5000, they said.
In ready business, nearly 1500 bales changed hands between Rs 11500-12500, they added. A few lots changed hands as most of the deals were based on the quality to attract the international market, they said. On the other hand, the ginners were holding the 0.2 million bales, which are not very big quantity so they are not lowering the asking prices, they said. On Friday the US cotton futures lost 2.5 percent of the value by the close as price momentum stalled following a near 30-cent rally in front of the government's final estimate of 2010/2011 crop.
The US Department of Agriculture's monthly supply/demand report cut the estimate of the US cotton crop by 215,000 (480-lb) bales to 18.1 million bales, while raising domestic consumption by 100,000 bales. The key May cotton contract on ICE Futures US tumbled 5.25 cents or 2.5 percent to settle at $2.0297 per lb, near the lower half of its $2.0125 to $2.1240 session range. Dealers cited profit-taking from the near 30-cent run-up in prices this week.
The new-crop December cotton contract edged up 0.14 cent to $1.3808. Total volume traded in the cotton market was around 27,700 lots, about 16 percent above the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters preliminary data showed. The following deals were reported: nearly 100 bales of cotton from Haroonabad were sold at Rs 11800, 200 bales of cotton from same station at Rs 11500, 200 bales from Multan at Rs 12400 and 1000 bales from Gojra at Rs 12500, they added.
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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"
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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 08.04.2011
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37.324 Kgs 12,500 120 12,620 12,620 NIL
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Equivalent
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40 Kgs 13,396 120 13,516 13,516 NIL
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