KARACHI: Cotton prices surged on Thursday in the backdrop of rupee devaluation while activity failed to pick up due to short supply of quality lint.
According to market reports, spinners are still importing cotton from India. Estimates suggest that so far around three million bales have been booked for import.
Normally the textile industry enters into an arrangement with the State Bank of Pakistan for fixing the dollar-rupee parity for cotton imports but this time this deal did not happen. As a result, after rupee devaluation imports will become costly.
The ginners on their part are not in a mood to dispose off their limited stocks at this stage as they feel cotton prices would go higher on strong demand from the textile industry.
Due to renewed rising trend in cotton prices, some of the deals were finalised at Rs8,000 per maund which is the second highest rate of the current season.
As cotton prices rose on ready counter, the official spot rates of the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) were also revised upwards by Rs100 to Rs7,600 per maund.
The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 600 bales, Moro, at Rs6,525; 200 bales, Yazman, at Rs6,450; 400 bales, Shadan Lund, at Rs7,000; 200 bales, Rahimyar Khan, at Rs8,000; and 600 bales, Lodhran, at Rs6,600.
Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2018
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