February 4, 2002	Monday	Ziqa’ad 20, 1422

THE KARACHI wholesale commodity markets showed mixed trend during the preceding week as both the commercial houses and the Punjab dealers made selective buying on essential counters.

The supply position was claimed to be fairly comfortable thanks to steady arrivals from the upcountry trading centres, which did not allow any major change on the higher side.

Arrival of pluses from the foreign sources was also said to be in line with the weekly ready demand and as a result ready the business was relatively slow.

But late in the week pent-up demand from the upcountry dealers came in a big way and lifted the prices of import stuff sharply higher under the lead of gram and masoor.

On the essential counter, prices of some of the items are expected to rise from the current lower levels as the supply line could be under pressure during the coming weeks.

Sugar price, for instance, is stable below Rs2,000 per bag of 100kg but it is expected to increase in the coming weeks after the government starts purchasing the committed quantity from the crushers.

Under a recently signed agreement, the government has committed to buy 2 lakh tons of the commodity to stabilize price and bail out millers from the current larger unsold stocks.

According to production and sale figures released by the Pakistan Sugar Mill Association (PSMA), the unsold stocks including carryover are well above half a million tons despite the fact that the production was lower by 2 lakh tons at 9 lakh tons as compared to last season’s comparable figure of 11.1 lakh tons.

News from the export front were fairly encouraging as the private sector managed to secure fresh export orders both for rice and wheat from some new buyers. Already a ship from Bangladesh to load 12,500 tons of rice is in the port, while talks for sales of surplus stocks of wheat to a number of countries are also in advance stage.

Sugar came in for stray support and rose by Rs10 as comfortable ready position owing to larger unsold stocks did not allow any major change.

Desi sugar and gur were exceptions, which held on to its last levels despite steady new crop arrivals amid active trading.

Wheat prices showed a modest increase of Rs5 on the reports of fresh export to Afghanistan but demand from the local mills was on the lower side.

Rice sector again depicted dull trend amid reports of slow arrivals. As a result fine types of Basmati were traded at the previous levels and so was the IRRI varieties but the broken was category was an exception, which came in for stray support and rose by Rs5.

Unlike the previous weeks, pluses came in for strong demand from the upcountry dealers and were mostly traded at the higher levels as supplies did not match the ready buying orders.

Beetle, masoor whole, dal, urad, gram whole and dal came in for active buying by both locals and the upcountry dealers and showed sharp rise ranging from Rs50 to Rs110, biggest rise of Rs150 to Rs175 per bag being in masoor imported type.

Guar also followed the lead of pulses and rose by Rs35 to Rs40 per bag despite steady new crop arrivals from the upcountry markets. The rise in prices was attributed to the revival of demand from the local mills.

Cereals showed mixed trend as prices of jowar fell by Rs15 to Rs20, while maize and bajra resisted fresh decline and were held unchanged amid slow trading.

Oilseed sector showed quiet trend owing to slack demand on the reports of comfortable ready position. Major seeds including the rapeseed and cottonseed lacked normal trading interest and were quoted at the previous levels.

But til came in for stray selling from the locals because of the falling demand from export houses and were quoted lower by Rs10 to 25.

Castorseed followed them for the third week in a row and resisted fresh decline followed by the revival of demand at lower rates.

Oilcakes again showed mixed trend amid slow trading. Cottonseed cakes fell by Rs5 in sympathy with a decline in oil prices of cottonseed, while rapeseed cakes came in for active support despite reports of steady new crop arrivals and were traded at the previous levels.—M.A