AFTER several weeks of sustained rise, prices of some essential items suffered fall last week on the Karachi wholesale commodity markets as leading commercial houses sold in part their long positions followed by reports of steady arrivals from upcountry markets.

While imported stuff did not show much change and were mostly held at last levels under the lead of masoor and masoor dal, some of the local types were traded lower under the lead of gram whole and gram dal.

Wheat, however, was an exception which showed a modest rise at the fag-end of the week after remaining unchanged, and was marked up by Rs75 per bag despite larger imports and steady release to flour mills.

Arrivals of the commodity from upcountry markets, mainly from Sindh, were said to be on the higher side, which triggered selling by local stockists fearing further decline in prices, dealers said.

The interesting feature was that prices of most of the imported items, notably pulses, were held unchanged despite the fact no fresh consignment arrived during the last week.

Market sources said that owing to pressure on foreign exchange reserves, fresh letters of credit were not being opened by leading importers. However, as speculated, prices of imported pulses did not show fresh increase.

The market decline was led by the rice sector where IRRI types came in for active selling followed by reports of steady arrival of new crop from Sindh markets, where harvesting of IRRI variety is said to be in full swing.

Steady arrivals of new rice crop triggered selling by local stockists despite resumption of export since last couple of weeks. A loader is already at the port loading rice.

Dealers said although fine types did not show any change for the fourth week in a row, they may come for selling amid reports of a record crop of well over six million tones after its harvest was resumed during the next couple of weeks.

But private sector rice exporters claim that demand for the local rice varieties in different countries including Iran and the Gulf was on the higher side, as sharp fall in prices appears to be remote.

Among other essentials, wheat was again firmly held at previous levels as steady imports during the week were in progress. Four ships loaded with about 0.1m tones of the commodity arrived and some of them were being unloaded, they added.

Sugar remained under pressure after last couple of weeks’ sustained rise as the new crushing season is about to resume. The stockists have already sold in part their long positions.

The market advance was led by rice sector where prices of new crop IRRI-6 rose by Rs550–600 per bag on reports of higher export. IRRI broken also rose by Rs100. But basmati varieties, both coarse and fine, did not show any change and were traded at previous levels amid reports of slow export demand.

On the other hand, sugar came in for fresh selling and was marked down by Rs100-200 per bag. Desi sugar and gur followed it, and were quoted lower b y Rs300- 400.

Among other essentials, gram whole, gram dal and imported beetle showed easy trend for the second week in a row and came in for fresh selling, finishing lower by Rs150-200, but the largest fall of Rs700 was noted in beetle prices.

Cereals showed firm trend followed by reports of slow arrivals from upcountry markets and as a result, prices of maize and barley were marked higher by Rs25-100 followed by guar seeds, which suffered fall ranging between Rs150 and Rs200 on local selling.

The oilseed sector showed firm trend as prices of cottonseed were quoted higher by Rs50-75, while castor seed fell by Rs50 on slack export demand. Rape seed, on the other hand, were firmly held at the last levels amid active trading.

After the initial decline on selling, cotton prices recovered on active spinner demand and was quoted higher by Rs125 per maund and so did til, which rose by Rs100.

Oilcakes ruled unchanged for rapeseed cakes, while cottonseed cakes suffered decline of Rs20 on larger arrivals of the new crop followed by ginner selling.—M.A.