Official spot rate was sharply down on the cotton market on Tuesday in the process of modest trading activity, dealers said. The official spot rate dropped by Rs 200 to Rs 8500, they added. In ready session, 1200 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 8100-8600, they said. Rates of seed cotton per 40kg from Lower Sindh also fell sharply, losing the same amount at Rs 3300-3700, they said.
Binola per maund prices followed the suit, dropping modestly at Rs 1400-1450, they said. Polyester fibre rates were at Rs 192, they said. Approximately, 3000 bales of cotton (new crop) changed hands between Rs 7800-8000 and 600 bales of cotton done at Rs 8000, they said.
Commenting on the present trend in the market, cotton analyst, Naseen Usman said that many ginners were avoiding using their bank limits to make their payments because of increased interest rate which is in fact totally disappointing for the farming community. Other experts observed that there were virus attacks on the cotton crop in both Sindh and Punjab, which may cause quality factor in the near future, they said. Besides, locust attacks also found in country's other main crops, they said.
Additionally, Lower Sindh received monsoon rains, which is beneficial for the standing crop, they added. Monsoon rains have covered most parts of cane, cotton, and soyabean fields in western India and some parts of rice-sowing areas in central and northern India. Cotton sowing was down 12%, while soyabean planting has lagged by 57% during the period.
In other parts of the world, the cotton prices were higher, they said. Reuters adds: ICE Cotton futures edged higher on Monday, supported by a weak US dollar and uplift in grains market, while investors rolling their positions into the December cotton contract further helped lift prices.
The most-active cotton contract on ICE Futures US, the third-month December contract, settled up 0.13 cent, or 0.2%, at 65.69 cents per lb. Total futures market volume fell by 5,230 to 15,712 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 413 to 175,809 contracts in the previous session. The following deals were reported: 200 bales of cotton from Kasowal at Rs 8100 and 1000 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 8600, 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 1-1/16"
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 24-06-2019
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37.324 kg 8,500 160 8,660 8,860 - 200/-
Equivalent
40 kgs 9,109 171 9,280 9,495 - 215/-
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