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KARACHI, Oct 23: Cotton market on Wednesday maintained firm outlook as prices of fine varieties were traded further higher as leading spinners tried to grab the floating stock.
Some of the deals in the southern Punjab fine lots were finalized around Rs2,050 per maund as leading brokers predicted that prices are expected to rise further in the coming sessions.
Stray lots of similar staple length from the upper Sindh ginneries were also marked up but most of the deals were done at a discount of Rs25 per maund as compared to its Punjab counterpart.
Floor brokers said higher phutti prices are well-reflected in the lint, which is becoming expensive each day. Heavy mill buying each day apparently followed by reports of damage to standing crop is further fuelling the current flare-up.
“The market is progressively slipping into the growers hands as some progressive growers have virtually institutionalized the pace of arrivals of phutti into the ginneries”, claims a leading broker.
Unlike the previous season, growers are not flooding the ginneries with their produce for fears of decline in prices if spinners withdrew to the sidelines for a couple of days but they are sending phutti under a system and that is keeping prices higher, he adds.
An average selling price of phutti in the Punjab cotton belt is between Rs860 and Rs925 depending on the quality as compared to official support price of Rs800 per 40 kg.
On the export front, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) on Oct 22, registered export contracts for 1,162 bales with the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the total sales so far being 0.330m bales.
There was no change in the official spot rates, although in physical trading most of the deals were done well above them.
New York cotton futures on the other hand rose by 0.33 and 0.37 cents per lb at 44.73 and 47.13 cents for both the ruling December and the forward March settlements respectively.
Ready offtake was active as till late in the evening about 8,000 bales changed hands as under:
SINDH TYPE: 300 bales, Tando Adam at Rs1,935, 200 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs1,935 and 200 bales at Rs1,970, 100 bales, Mirpukhas at Rs1,940, 200 bales, Sanghar at Rs1,970 and 200 bales, Gambat at Rs1,940.
PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,000 bales, Alipur at Rs2,050, 2,000 bales, Khanpur also at the same rate, 200 bales, D.G.Khan at Rs2,040, 200 bales, at Rs2,025, 400 bales, Jehania at Rs2,025, 200 bales, at Rs2,050, 400 bales, Ahmedpur East at Rs2,050, 400 bales, Vehari at Rs2,050, 400 bales, Lodharan at Rs2,050, 400 bales, Rajanpur at Rs2,025, 400 bales, Khanewal at Rs2,040 and 200 bales, Multan at Rs2,040.
