An improvement was evident in business activity on the cotton market on Tuesday in the process of trading, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 5,400, dealers said. In Sindh, prices of seed cotton were at Rs 2000 and Rs 3000, in the Punjab, rates were at Rs 2300 and Rs 3100, they said. In the ready business, over 13000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 4427 and Rs 5675, they said.
Market sources said that cotton production is showing significant decline, despite this fact prices are falling with the passage of time the world over. Mills and spinners keen to buy better quality to fulfil export requirements, to achieve the purpose, import of Indian cotton is continued.
Most of them are laying hands over the low quality of cotton to meet the urgent needs, they observed Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said in the local market, however, prices stabilised due to shortage of production. Besides, reports saying that global cotton inventory will fall in 2016/17 on higher demand even as output is expected to rise by almost 3 percent, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) said in its first estimates for the upcoming season.
The group projected production will be 23.08 million tons for the season that starts in August, up 2.8 percent from an estimated 22.46 million in the current 2015/16 year. Consumption will come in at 24.13 million tons, up 0.2 percent from a forecast 24.08 million this year. Reuters adds: Cotton futures surged on Monday to their highest single-session gains in two weeks, lifted by a weaker dollar and end-user buying at low price levels and bucking a rout across most commodities.
March cotton on ICE Futures US settled up 0.66 cent, or 1.1 percent, at 61.79 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 60.85 and 62.00 cents a lb. Total futures market volume rose by 1,696 to 38,571 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 2,648 to 198,357 contracts in the previous session. The following deals reported: 6000 bales of cotton from Sanghar at Rs 4425/4700, 400 bales from Salehpat at Rs 5475, 600 bales from Khairpur at Rs 5500, 600 bales from Faqirwali at Rs 5300-5360, 400 bales from Haroonabad at Rs 5350, 1000 bales from Mianwali at Rs 5500/5675, 4000 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 5650, they said.
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The KCA Official Spot Rate for Local Dealings in Pakistan 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 01-02-2016
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37.324 kg 5,400 135 5,535 5,535 NIL
Equivalent
40 kgs 5,787 145 5,932 5,932 NIL
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