KARACHI, Nov 1: Brisk trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Tuesday as spinners and mills made near-panic buying followed by rumours of a considerable decline in arrivals of phutti into the ginneries for the fortnight ended Oct 31.
About 30,000 bales changed hands, mostly from the Punjab ginneries, at a terribly uniform rate of Rs2,400 per maund, about Rs50 higher against the previous closing rates in physical trading, brokers said.
“For the third time during the current season the market has again in the tight grip of grower who curtailed release of phutti stocks to the ginneries”, they said, adding “spinners already having a fair idea of the crop virtually flooded the market with buystops”.
It was for the first time during the current season that alarm bells of a short crop rang in the textile industry, which could well mean further increase in prices in the post-Eid holiday trading.
Heavy mill buying despite transportation problems partly because of Eid holidays and partly to higher rates being charged by the cargo haulers, reflects that spinners are out to grab the floating stock at the current level of Rs2,400.
However, it is not clear whether or not the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) will release the latest arrival figures before Eid holidays to end the current speculative tendency in cotton trading.
But market sources said the arrival figures for the fortnight ended Oct 31, may not be available before the Eid holidays and contenders have to await them during the post–Eid sessions.
“The crop is certainly short but how much is the big question, which guides the future direction of the market”, cotton analysts said, adding “the current thinking in the private monitoring agencies reflects a terribly lower figure”.
Official spot rates were further upped by Rs25 to Rs2,350 per maund but most of the deals in the ready section were done well above them.
New York cotton futures on the other hand suffered a fresh modest decline of 0.65 and 0.50 cents for both the ruling December and the forward March contracts at 51.87 and 54.49 cents per lb respectively.
Ready off-take was large totalling about 30,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals.
SINDH TYPE: 1,500 bales, Nawabshah at Rs2,325 and 2,000 bales, Khipro at Rs2,400.
PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,200 bales, Jalalpur, 1,000 bales, Rajanpur, 1,400 bales, Bahawalpur, 2,500 bales, Rahimyar Khan, 3,000 bales, Hasilpur, 1,000 bales each Khanewal and Burewala and 1,200 bales, Burewala at Rs2,400.
Some other deals including 800 bales each, Uch Sharif, Nurpur, Kabirwala, Garah More, Mongi Bungalow, 600 bales each, Tiba Sultan, Alipru, and 400 bales, Yazman, Mianwali, Liaquatpur and Lodhran were done also at Rs2,400.
