September 18, 2006	Monday	Sha'aban 24, 1427

TRADING on the Karachi wholesale markets was relatively slow last week as both, retailers and wholesalers did not opt for panic-buying by managing to contain any possible price flare-up ahead of Ramazan.

Despite reports of the damage to standing crops owing to late rains in Sindh farm belt, prices of some essential items remained stable by not showing any bullish reactions to a possible shortfall, dealers said.

Other than that some essential items came in for active selling under the lead of pulses because of an improvement in the supply position following larger imports and falling demand.

Dealers said that the price list issued by the City Government for Ramazan also checked any speculative increase in the cost of some essential items.

However, advent of the holy month still is about a week away but anything can happen in between depending on the manoeuvring of leading stockists.

Apart from steady arrivals of some commodities from the upcountry markets, import of pulses in big quantity too, helped in containing the prices of most items around their previous levels, brokers said.

Some brokers feared that the pressure on supplies by next week may encourage speculative forces to hold back their stocks of essential items which in return will push the prices high.

There were fears of a sympathetic rise in retail charges if rates of some daily use items were elevated in the backdrop of an artificial shortage, they added.

Earlier in the week, bulk of the selling remained confined to the pulses sector while none followed the suit by remaining stuck to their former levels.

Among major export items, rice varieties stayed firm around their previous echelons despite steady new crop arrivals from the Sindh markets and active covering purchases made by the exporters against their forward sales.

Prices of some industrial raw materials showed softening trend on local selling triggered by the reports of higher crop prospects despite heavy rains.

However, towards the end of week some important commodities recovered from the early week lows on active short-covering by being quoted sharply higher under the lead of gram whole, gram dal and masoor and posted gains from Rs100 to 200 per bag.

On the other hand, moong, masoor, beetle and urad remained in strong demand amid reports of holding back of stocks by the wholesalers as an increase from Rs100 to 200 were reported. The largest was in moong which ranged from Rs250 to 375.

Other essentials were mostly traded at previous levels barring kernel type of basmati which was marked up by Rs100.00 on reports of fresh export deals with some European and Gulf importers.

While sela basmati and IRRI-9 were traded at their preceding levels despite active new crop arrivals from Sindh markets, IRRi-6 came in for active selling by local dealers and fell by Rs10.

Among others, wheat remained stable as arrivals from upcountry markets were fairly steady, while its mill-demand was fully met at the prevailing rates.

Major industrial raw materials showed mixed trend. While barley was traded at its former figures despite steady arrivals, guar seeds came in for fresh selling by the stockists and posted a fall of Rs50.

Oilseed sector on the other hand again passed through a dull trading week as prices of major seeds including rapeseed and til were held unchanged on the matching of supplies and local demand.

Cottonseed on the other hand was quoted modestly higher as provisions from ginneries were on the lower side of the weekly average owing to recent rains which interrupted fresh arrivals from the mills.

Castorseed on the other hand came in for modest support and rose by Rs25 as local crushers covered their positions against foreign sale of crude castor oil.

On oilcake front, cottonseed again came in for panic-buying followed by reports of pressure on new crop supplies which subsequently hiked the value of per 50kg bag by Rs100. Last week the rates had dropped sharply from its peak level as arrivals improved. Rapeseed cakes were again traded at their previous levels.—M.A.