THE Karachi commodity wholesale markets showed firm trend during the last week as prices of major essential items remained stable amid active trading on some of the counters.
But on the other hand raw material sector, notably seeds came in for active support from the processors and rose modestly followed by reports of short crop.
Arrivals of some essential items from the upcountry markets were said to be on the higher side of the weekly average but failed to depress prices thanks to steady ready off-take and strong presence of the Punjab dealers.
Floor brokers said prices of both wheat and sugar remained stable despite reports of larger new crop arrivals from the upcountry markets and Sindh mills. Encouraging developments on the export front continued to inspire fresh support from the private sector exporters.
Moreover, a section of leading commercial exporters also remained active, they said adding leading among them are building up long positions both in sugar and wheat on the perception that their prices may rise from the current lower levels at the fag-end of the season, they added.
However, some of the owners of sugar mills fear further decline in prices owing to the production glut of the commodity and slow pace of export by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP).
The TCP intends to export initially 0.1m tons of sugar for which it is floating international tenders. It had already sold a consignment of 12,000 tons to a Gulf-based company at $247 per ton and another tender is expected to be floated by the TCP shortly.
But sugar mills owners contend the exportable surplus could be much larger, and, together with carryover stocks and a record current crop of 3.6m tons, the total surplus could hit the high mark of a million tons after meeting the home consumption of 3.1m tons.
After early decline wheat rose by Rs5, while sugar prices did not show any change thanks to revival of demand from the commercial dealers prompted by reports of fall in new crop arrivals from the Sindh mills.
Pulses on the other hand showed mixed trend amid alternate bouts of buying and selling followed by conflicting reports about the supply position.
Barring moong and tuver, which suffered fall ranging from Rs12 to Rs25 per bag peas, beetle and gram dal posted gains to the extent of Rs10 to Rs70, while urad came in for renewed selling at the higher level and was marked down by Rs62.50. Other varieties were traded at the previous levels with the exception of new crop gram, which showed the largest rise of Rs170 to Rs185 per bag followed by reports of slow arrivals from the Sindh markets.
Some of the industrial raw materials also showed upward movements on active support extended by the processors, notable among them being guar, which moved further higher by Rs15 and so did castorseed, up Rs5 to Rs20 followed by reports of steady export sales and slow arrivals from the Balochistan markets.
On the rice sector, basmati kernal attracted selling followed by reports of steady new crop arrivals and fell by Rs50. Sela kernal, IRRI-6 and IRRI broken on the other hand posted gains ranging from Rs10 to Rs100, largest rise being in sela basmati.
Brokers said revival of export demand was said to be chief reason behind the increase in prices of kernal type of basmati. The other aiding factor was fall in stocks of the old crop.
Cereals came in for strong support amid reports of slow arrivals from the upcountry markets as prices of bajra and maize posted gains of Rs5 to Rs20,largest rise of Rs50 to Rs150 being in juwar followed by reports of holding back of stocks by upcountry dealers.
Oilseed sector, notably rapeseed stayed firm amid active trading as prices were mostly quoted unchanged from the previous levels.
With the exception of Nawabshah variety, which fell by Rs45 to Rs50 per 40 kg on selling prompted by steady new crop arrivals, all other types of rapeseed stayed unchanged amid active trading.
Til remained in active demand on reports of export demand and ended with a modest rise of Rs40 to Rs50. Reports of a short crop also aided the sentiment.
Oilcakes showed firm trend as prices of both rapeseed and cottonseed cakes rose further by Rs8 to Rs10 followed by reports of strong oil market.—M.A