KARACHI, June 23: Trading activity on the cotton market on Monday remained slow as spinners and mills were not inclined to make fresh bigger commitments because of annual closing on June 30.
Despite being short of their annual consumption needs, spinners have slowed down their daily purchases for technical reasons as most of them are inclined to reopen new accounts from the first week of July for the next financial year, dealers said.
The other reason, which has curtailed daily mill intake, is said to be higher asking prices for both the new and the current crops and spinners’ prices are expected to easy slightly during the next two weeks after the arrivals of phutti increase in the lower Sindh ginneries, they added.
As a result, new crop prices are stable at around Rs2,325 and those of the current crop at Rs2,300 per maund for the central Sindh short staple lint and above Rs2,500 for the southern Punjab and upper Sindh varieties.
According to some crop surveys conducted by the private agencies, the acreage under the new crop is reported higher as compared to original official planting intentions.
“As the growth of the newly sown cotton is satisfactory and there are no reports of any major pest attack owing to hot weather, spinners expect a good crop sufficient to meet the demand of the local industry during the current season,” brokers said.
This perception is also reinforced by on-the-spot crop survey carried out in the lower Sindh cotton belt by a private team consisting of representatives of ginners, spinners, exporters and cotton analysts who also claim that the condition of the new crop is good and hoped the weather conditions will remain stable during the next couple of weeks, they add.
Meanwhile, reports coming from the lower Sindh cotton belt indicate that arrivals of phutti are increasing each day as growers wanted to cash in on the prevailing higher phutti prices at around Rs980 to Rs1,000 per 40 kg.
A ginner from the same area has made forward deals for over 1,000 bales of the new crop for nearby deliveries at around Rs2,350 per maund.
Official spot rates for the current crop were firmly held at the weekend level of Rs2,425 per maund.
Ready business was light totalling 500 bales as under: 300 bales of new crop from a Mirpurkhas ginnery at Rs2,325 and 200 bales, current crop, Jhole at Rs2,300.
