Rates were marginally down on the cotton market on Thursday as mills and spinners were on the sidelines but exporters made buying to meet the near term needs, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 5,600, they said. Prices of seedcotton in Sindh were at Rs 1800-2300 and in the Punjab at Rs 2200-2650, they said.
In ready dealings approximately 8000 bales of cotton changed hands at Rs 3950-5800, they added. Naseem Usman said that trading activity was slow due to less buying interest among the mills and spinners. Most of the buyers were on the sidelines ahead of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) report, other dealers said. The mills were hoping prices to come down after the PCGA fortnightly report, they said.
In the meantime, the ginners were not interested in selling the unsold stock at the present levels because they expect demand will rise after the World Trading Organisation (WTO) decision to grant a waiver for an European Union (EU) trade package for Pakistan, experts said.
On Wednesday the US cotton futures finished with moderate gains, driven up as export buyers continued to show interest after a recent steep price decline and mills rushed to fix prices ahead of next week's deliveries. Benchmark March cotton on ICE Futures US ended at 92.50 cents per lb, a 0.25 cent increase, after a session that earlier lead prices up about 3.25 percent to their highest level in a week. The range spanned 92.15 to 94.37 a lb.
The March tally rose to 11,698 lots shortly after exchange trading finished. Small speculators continued to roll long March positions into May or July contracts ahead of the February 23 delivery date. May futures which now hold the largest open interest of any cotton contract on the board at nearly twice March, finished at 93.48 per lb, up 0.64 cents. May volume stood at 14,023 in late business.
The following deals were reported: 200 bales of cotton from Hala sold at Rs 3950, 400 bales from New Saeedabad at Rs 4000, 600 bales from Shahdad Pur at Rs 3900-4100, 400 bales from sanghar at Rs 4400, 1000 bales from Khair Pur at Rs 5200-5300, 400 bales from Gojra at Rs 5200, 800 bales from Haroonabad at Rs 5200-5400, 400 bales from Chistian at Rs 5400, 400 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs 5400, 200 bales from Multan at Rs 5500, 400 bales from Shujabad at Rs 5500, 400 bales from Bahawal Pur at Rs 5500, 200 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 5700, 600 bales from Mian Wali at Rs 5700-5800, 1400 bales from Sadiqabad at Rs 5800 and 400 bales from Lodhran (BCI) at Rs 5800.
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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 15.02.2012
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37.324 Kgs 5,600 130 5,730 5,730 NIL
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Equivalent
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40 Kgs 6,002 130 6,132 6,132 NIL
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