No business activity seen on cotton market

LAHORE: The market remained dull on Saturday. The trading volume remained low.

Cotton Analyst Naseem Usman told that the rate of cotton in Punjab and Sindh is in between Rs 18000 to Rs 21,000 per maund. He also told that ginning season will partially start from June 15.

He further told that bales of new cotton crop from Digri, Tando Bago and Karan were sold in between Rs 9900 to Rs 10,200 per maund. Cotton bales of Mir Pur, Sakro and Gharo were sold at Rs 9000 to Rs 9400 per maund while bales of Badin were sold at Rs 10,350 per maund.

ICE cotton futures fell more than 3% on Friday weighed down by weakness across grain markets and forecasts for rainfall in key West Texas growing regions.

Cotton contracts for July fell 5.44 cents, or 3.7%, to 142.28 cents per lb, at 12:16 p.m. ET.

“There is some selling in just about all commodities markets and the dollar is firm. Cotton prices have gone too high and it needs to come down at some point,” said Jack Scoville, vice president at Chicago-based Price Futures Group.

Chicago wheat fell for a third day as reports that India could loosen an export ban and negotiations to resume sea exports from war-torn Ukraine calmed global supply jitters.

“July is flirting with limit down trading this morning, possibly, ahead of potential rainfall across West Texas over the coming days,” Louis Rose of Tennessee-based Rose Commodity Group said in a note.

Further adding pressure, the dollar index was up 0.3%, making cotton expensive for holders of other currencies.

Total futures market volume fell by 23,937 to 15,667 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 1,074 to 201,851 contracts in the previous session.

“I think there is going to be demand around. China with the COVID lockdowns might hinder short term demand but eventually it will pick up,” Scoville added

China is one of the top consumers of US cotton. China cotton futures on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange were up 0.4% at 21,155 yuan per tonne. The spread between China futures and US cotton was 132.6 cents as of 12:12 p.m. ET.

The Spot Rate remained unchanged at Rs 21000 per maund. The Polyester Fiber was available at Rs 300 per kg.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022