Rising demand by mills and exporters boosted the prices on the cotton market on Tuesday and it is expected that rates may show firmness due to falling trend in the unsold stock, dealers said. In a single day rally, official spot rate by the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) was appreciated by Rs 100 to Rs 5400, they added.
Prices of seedcotton in Sindh came down by Rs 200-50 to Rs 1700-2300, respectively, and in the Punjab rates, however, showed firmness, modest rise of Rs 50 for fine quality at Rs 2000-2700, they said. In the daily business, approximately, over 5000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 4300-5900, they added. There were some speculations in the market that 600 bales of cotton from Rahim Yar Khan done at Rs 6000 (credit), they added. The local buyers were facing shortage of fine quality and this factor may cause more rise in the prices in the near future, Naseem Usman said.
On the other hand, exporters are keen to finalise deals of fine variety but the ginners have not enough stock of that stuff, he added. He said that yarn and cotton demand improved and caused a rise in the rates. He also said that seedscotton prices were down in Sindh, many mills were not operational due to slow demand.
Other analysts said that cotton traders were waiting for some objective news from India today's meeting, but they could not know about latest move, a few traders were of the view that now the Indian announcement may not be very surprising for the local cotton traders. According to the Reuters on Monday, the NY cotton futures closed lower on speculative sales, but tight supplies kept the market supported and enabled fiber contracts to pare losses, analysts said. The market extended losses stemming from a bearish plantings report last Friday from the US Agriculture Department forecasting US 2012 cotton sowings at 13.155 million acres, higher than a Thomson Reuters survey range of 12.74 million to 12.76 million acres.
The benchmark May contract on ICE Futures US shed 0.40 cent to finish at 93.12 cents per lb, moving from 92.05 to 93.70 cents. New-crop December declined 0.25 cent to end at 90.75 cents, having bounced back from a session low of 89.47 cents. The following deals were reported: 152 bales of cotton from Shahdad Pur sold at Rs 4300, 300 bales from Hala at Rs 4450, 200 bales from Ghotki (Credit) at Rs 5800, 400 bales from Burewala at Rs 4800, 200 bales from Lodhran at Rs 5150, 600 bales from Pak Pattan at Rs 5200, 200 bales from Bahawal Pur at Rs 5200, 200 bales from Basti Malook at Rs 5400, 200 bales from Uch Sharif at Rs 5500, 400 bales from Fazil Pur at Rs 5500, 700 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 5500, 200 bales from Jalal Pur at Rs 5550, 200 bales from Sadiqabad at Rs 5550, 200 bales from Pak Pattan at Rs 5600, 106 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs 5600, 400 bales from Kotla Moosa at Rs 5600, 400 bales from Jahanian (Credit) at Rs 5850 and 200 bales of cotton from Vehari (credit) at Rs 5900.
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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 02.04.2012
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37.324 Kgs 5,400 130 5,530 5,430 +100
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Equivalent
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40 Kgs 5,787 130 5,917 5,810 +107
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