Prices failed to maintain present levels on the cotton market on Friday ahead of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) fortnightly report shortly, dealers said. The official spot rate drifted lower by Rs 50 to Rs 6650, they said. In Sindh, seed cotton prices were modestly higher by Rs 100 to Rs 3300-3500, they said. In Punjab, phutti rates were at Rs 3000 and Rs 3800, as per 40 kg, they added. In the ready session, around 6,000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 6250 and Rs 6800, they said.
Market sources said that both buyers and sellers remained on the sidelines ahead of the PCGA report. Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that spinners bought low quality of cotton at lower rates. Other experts said that ginners were not interested in selling of quality lint due to short supply, which have started to affect on the trade volume. Cotton production is short this year also which indicates that the crop size would not be more than 10.08 million bales. Some analysts said that around 3.5 to 4 million bales will have to be imported and spinners had already booked around 2.3 million bales to meet the gap.
Reuters adds: ICE cotton futures fell for the third straight session on Thursday on technical selling ahead of the first notice day for the March contract due next week.
The March cotton contract settled down about one percent at 75.01 cents per lb on Thursday. The May cotton contract on ICE Futures US settled down 0.51 cent, or 0.66 percent, at 76.77 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 76.76 and 77.44 cents a lb.
The following deals reported: 1700 bales from Sanghar at Rs 6250-6500, 200 bales from Pithoro at Rs 6700 and 800 bales from Saleh Pat at Rs 6800, dealers 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"
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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 Expenses Ex-Karachi Ex. KHI, As Ex-Karachi
on 16-02-2017 in Rupees
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37.324 kg 6,650 135 6,785 6,835 - 50/-
Equivalent
40 kgs 7,127 145 7,272 7,325 -53/-
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