December 17, 2001	Monday	Shawwal 1, 1422

Trading activity on the Karachi wholesale commodity markets during the last week was relatively slow as commercial houses did not make fresh covering purchases owing to Eid holidays.

Price trend was mixed as some of the essential items suffered fall under the lead of pulses and rice, while wheat rose, with sugar remaining steady at the last levels.

The physical activity is expected to remain sluggish during the post-Eid holiday trading sessions as the markets will remain closed for three days and will reopen at the fag-end of the week possibly on Thursday.

There was no evidence of pre-Eid panic buying on some of the counters, notably gram whole and gram dal, associated with the post-Eid dishes as supplies matched the ready demand. But instead prices fell owing to slack demand.

Some wheat based-products were, however, an exception, which attracted good support and generally ended higher and so did some rice varieties. There was, however, a relative quiet on the export front in the absence of fresh letters of credit and easy shipment schedules.

As a result, both the buyers and the sellers preferred to keep to the sidelines rather than indulging in hasty selling or buying. Prices, therefore, remained stable and where there were changes, it were mostly orderly.

News from the export front were a bit encouraging as foreign buyers have started negotiation for new deals, notably on the rice sector and indications are that the new crop shipments are expected to resume by early next year.

The rice crop is said to be around the previous levels and indications are that there could be a larger exportable surplus, notably for the IRRI types. But there could be problems for the export of Basmati owing to tough competition from the major producers.

However, the sudden increase in wheat prices reflects that the exports to neighbouring Afghanistan have already resumed after the end of war, dealers said.

Wheat prices showed a rise of Rs20 on reports that the talks to export 0.200 million tons of the commodity and 50,000 tons of rice with Iran are in advance stages. The local mill buying because of steady arrivals was another positive factor.

But the rice sector showed divergent trend amid slow ready offtake. While the fine types of Basmati resisted fresh fall owing to renewed buying prompted by fresh exports,the IRRI varieties suffered fall of Rs35 to 40 per bag on selling prompted by larger new crop arrivals. Broken rice ruled steady followed by the reports of good export business and fresh the deals with African and Gulf importers rose by Rs10 to 3000 per bag of 100kg.

But they say the new season has just started and the demand for rice both IRRI and Basmati types are expected to pick up after foreign buyers resume the new year buying possibly by the end of the next month.

Unlike the previous week, pluses showed mixed trend amid alternate bouts of buying and selling. Gram whole and gram dal suffered fall ranging from Rs100 to 150 per bag for no apparent bearish reason except the withdrawal of Ramazan-related demand.

Moong rose modestly, while urad, beetle and all other varieties remained pegged at the last close.

Guar followed the lead of other raw materials and rose by Rs35 to 55 on the renewed mill-buying. New crop arrivals were steady.

Cereals showed mixed trend and while bajra attracted selling and fell by Rs25 to 75, jowar was quoted lower by Rs20 to 25. Maize and barley were held unchanged.

Oilseed sector depicted mixed trend as the rapeseed and castorseed came in for active selling and were marked down by Rs30 to 40, til fell by Rs10 to 40, with castorseed remaining mixed.

Unlike the previous week, cottonseed resisted fresh decline on active mill-demand and was traded at the last levels.

Oilcakes depicted easy trend amid active trading as both rapeseed and cottonseed cakes fell by another Rs5 to 10 on fresh selling prompted by steady new crop arrivals.—M.A