KARACHI: The local cotton market on Saturday witnessed sluggish trend. Market sources told that trading volume remained very thin. The situation is likely to be improved in the month of June after the start of new season.
Cotton Analyst Naseem Usman told Business Recorder that with the partial arrival of Phutti for the season 2021- 22 the trading for the new season has started in the cotton market. Naseem said that 600 bales of Tando Adam were sold at Rs 12,200 per maund and 200 bales of Sanghar were sold at Rs 1200 per maund.
Naseem also told that that Spot Rate Committee of the Karachi Cotton Association will mention the trading activates in its daily report from July 1, as the financial year starts from July.
Naseem Usman told that up till now buying and selling of Phutti from the areas of Sindh which includes Badin and Gharo were recorded. He told that ginning factories of Punjab bought Phutti at the rate of Rs 5300 to Rs 5500 per 40 Kg. Moreover, a ginning factory of Burewala had sold 200 bales of cotton at the rate of Rs 12500 per maund on the condition of delivery between June 10 to June 20. Sources claimed that two ginning factories of Sanghar will partially start their operations from 1st week of June.
Naseem told that according to the information received up till now the sowing of cotton in the cotton production areas of Sindh and Punjab is satisfactory. The Federal Agriculture Committee has set the target of production of approximately one crore five lac (10.5 million) bales for the year 2021-22.
Naseem further said that that sowing of cotton has registered a significant increase this year in South Punjab due to the incentives given to the farmers by the Punjab government, said an official of the Punjab Agriculture Department.
Official said it was heartening to note that the farmers were taking keen interest in sowing cotton this year as compared to last year. “Reports of cotton crop sowing are pouring in from the South Punjab, right from the first week of April which are according to the wishes of the Punjab government”, the official said. He said that crop of cotton was mostly being sown in Bahawalpur, Multan, Lodhran, Bahawalnagar and Rahimyar Khan Khanewal, Layyah, Sahiwal districts.
Mahar Mahboob, a farmer from Layyah, said that he preferred to sow cotton in fields this year rather than other crops, adding that the present government was taking initiatives for the farmers. To a question, he said that cotton was a beneficial crop as the government was giving different incentives to the farmers. He also confirmed that the farmers were taking more interest in sowing the cotton as compared to the last year in the southern Punjab.
It is also pertinent to mention here that the Federal Committee on Agriculture has fixed white lint production target for the country at 10.5 million bales from an area of 2.33m hectares for the 2021/22 season, almost double over the previous year.
Punjab is to sow the crop on 1.6m hectares of land to produce 6.07m bales. The Agriculture Department has issued a schedule for sowing of registered cotton varieties and advised the growers to complete the sowing of registered BT cotton varieties between April 1 and May 31. The BT cotton varieties recommended by the department include IUB-13, MNH-886, BS-15, Niab-878, and FH-142. The growers have been asked to consult local experts if they plan to sow other registered BT cotton varieties keeping in view the environment of their district to get better production.
The cotton market closed higher Friday amid adverse weather conditions still gripping West Texas and now perhaps the Southeast. To the latter, some forecasts indicate triple-digit temperatures will prevail over South Georgia next week.
Such harsh conditions make it nearly impossible to plant but will categorically not allow already seeded fields to germinate. With the USDA having already lowered the domestic and global 2021 carryout on its May crop report, some traders think the stage is set for some sort of potential up move this summer.
Looking ahead to next week, on Monday USDA will update the planting progress of the 2021 crop. Also, weekly export sales will be issued next Thursday. As of now, sales for the current marketing season have reached 102% of USDA’s target.
Although West Texas did receive some rainfall according to the Drought Monitor, as issued by NOAA on Tuesday, indicating scant improvement in that region. Accordingly, traders are now expecting the Southeast to show pockets of hot and dry areas on this Tuesday’s NOAA update.
For the week, July cotton closed up 0.24 cent, for the month it is down 5.37 cents and for the year, July stands up 3.54 cents.
Friday, July cotton closed at 82.82 cents, up 1.29 cents, December settled 83.22 cents, up 1.23 cents and March 2022 ended at 82.97 cents, up 1.13 cents.
The spot rate remained unchanged at Rs 11300 per maund. The Polyester Fiber was available at Rs 200 per Kg.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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