June 04, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 18, 1428

THE ban on wheat exports pushed its prices modestly lower during last week as physical activity on the Karachi wholesale market remained slow as mills stayed on the sidelines awaiting further fall.

Ready offtake on most of essential counters was relatively slow as buyers awaited further fall in prices to cover positions at lower levels.

But as arrivals from upcountry trading centres showed a decline as compared to daily average during the post-ban period, prices stayed on the higher side.

Of late some local commodity dealers have been indulging in forward trading in wheat on daily basis and are said to have attracted some moneyed people in this trade, market sources said and added, as a result, despite a bumper crop of about 23m tones, prices rose to new highs owing to active buying by mills and private sector exporters.

They said speculative rise in prices has been checked, though temporarily, a considerable decline in arrivals from upcountry markets, followed by ban, could push prices up again.

However, as expected the ban may cause sympathetic fall in prices of other essential items was not witnessed on any counters. But rather prices of some of the essential items rose further.

Floor brokers said indications are there that local leading stockists who have massive holding capacity will try to keep prices of essential items on the pre-ban levels after having cornered the ready stock.

Meanwhile, prices of some types of rice and pulses rose further despite the fact ready demand was on the lower side of the daily average but wholesalers were not inclined to sell them at lower levels.

Physical shipments of rice against forward deals were maintained on the higher side, but local activity was relatively slow owing to higher prices of some of the types.

Sugar was the only exception, which was traded modestly lower after having ruling well above Rs30 per kilo. It was quoted around Rs26.50 per kilo on the wholesale market last week as arrivals from the mills were on the higher side.

Barring wheat and sugar, which suffered modest decline ranging from Rs25 to Rs35, other essential items generally rose. Basmati was quoted higher by Rs400 per bag. Other varieties, including kernel and IRRI-9 types, were traded around previous levels but IRRI-6 posted gain ranging from Rs25 to Rs50 on active short-covering by exporters.

Pulses were mostly traded around the previous levels as supplies met local demand in the absence of upcountry dealers. Barring moong and masoor type, which were quoted higher by Rs20 to Rs95 per bag, all other varieties were held unchanged at the last levels.

Cereals on the other hand came in for active support even at higher levels followed by reports of slow arrivals from the upcountry markets and prices generally rose where changed under the lead of maize and Jowar. Both rose by Rs25 to Rs30. Major industrial raw materials did not show much change partly because of steady arrivals from upcountry market and partly to a considerable fall in processors demand. Guar seeds and some others were held unchanged.

Oilseed sector did not show much change for the third week in a row as prices of major seeds, including cottonseed, rapeseed, castor seed and til were held unchanged amid slow ready offtake.

Oilcakes, on the other hand, showed a fresh fall of Rs20 per 40 kg in cottonseed, while rapeseed cakes were again held unchanged at previous week’s level.