A kind of firmness persisted on the cotton market on Saturday as a result of improved demand by mills ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr holidays, dealers said. The official spot rate was higher by Rs 50 to Rs 6,150, they added. The prices of seed cotton in Sindh were at Rs 3300-3325 and in Punjab rates were up by Rs 100 to Rs 3200 and Rs 3300, they said. In the ready session, over 3000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 6150-6300, they said.
Market sources said that Monsoon rains has started in the Punjab, the rains are timely and beneficial for cotton crop during the last fiscal, the rains may also start in Sindh in the coming days. Despite not very bad weather, the country failed to achieve target for 15 billion bales, they said. Now, for the current fiscal year it will again depend on weather, if country receives required rains, so the target for cotton production would be achievable, they said. Next cotton crop target is about 15.1 billion bales, they added.
Reuters adds: ICE cotton rose slightly on Friday in another range-bound session as relentless speculative selling dried up and some mills entered the market to pick up bargains after the market's weeks-long rout on concerns about oversupply. The benchmark December cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled at 67.74 cents per lb, up 0.13 percent from Thursday. Trading was in a narrow range. Trading volumes plunged to just over 7,600 lots, which traders said reflected the exit of institutional and speculative cash from the market.
The following deals reported: 800 bales of cotton from Mir Pur Khas at Rs 6150-6175, 600 bales of cotton from Sanghar at Rs 6150-6175, 1000 bales of cotton from Shahdad Pur at Rs 6175, 1400 bales from Tando Adam at Rs 6175-6200, 200 bales from Chichawatni at Rs 6225, 200 bales from Pak Pattan at Rs 6235, 800 bales of cotton from Arif Wala at Rs 6250, 600 bales from Burewala at Rs 6250, 200 bales from Sahiwal at Rs 6250 and 200 bales from Khanewal at Rs 6250, dealers said.
===========================================================================
The KCA Official Spot Rate for Local Dealings in Pak Rupees
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR BASE GRADE 3 STAPLE LENGTH 1-1/32"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
MICRONAIRE VALUE BETWEEN 3.8 TO 4.9 NCL
===========================================================================
Rate Ex-Gin Upcountry Spot Rate Spot Rate Difference
For Price Ex-Karachi Ex. KHI. As Ex-Karachi
on 18.07.2014
===========================================================================
37.324 Kgs 6,150 155 6,305 6,255 +50
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equivalent
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
40 Kgs 6,591 155 6,746 6,692 +54
===========================================================================