MULTAN: Cotton prices fell on Tuesday due to a decline in consumption by spinning mills.

According to a dealer, monthly average consumption of the country’s textile sector was between 1.3 million and 1.4m bales, but it has now been plummeted to around 400,000 bales since the start of Ramazan.

He said the government had also increased the duration of load-shedding for the textile sector during the holy month from eight hours to 12 hours. “This has also hurt the consumption,” he said.

Arrivals in Punjab have doubled as the factories were getting 50 to 100 maunds, he said.

He said that a total of 22 ginning factories were functional across the country, of which five were from Punjab and the remaining from Sindh. Although there is a downward trend in cotton prices in South Asian markets, the India is the only country where the market is steady and prices are increasing.

To him, situation in the domestic market would improve as Indian cotton market directly affects Pakistan’s.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) on Tuesday reduced its spot rate by Rs300 to Rs6,455.

The following transactions were reported to have changed hands on the ready counter on Tuesday: 200 bales from Mirpur Khas at Rs6,350, 200 bales from Nooriabad at Rs6,350, and 200 bales from Kotri at Rs6,350.

The following are Tuesday’s new crop Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) official spot rates for local dealings in Pak rupees for base grade 3 staple length 1-1/32” micronair value between 3.8 to 4.9 NCL.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2014