KARACHI, Sept 19: Cotton market on Thursday finished on a steady note as ginners were not inclined to hold long positions owing to a highly volatile price trend.
The sentiment in part was also influenced by the relatively improved performance of the New York Cotton Exchange where futures prices recovered smartly for the second session in a row.
The perception that the New York cotton futures prices may not fall below the 40-cent per lb barrier also proved a supporting factor as import of lint will be more expensive than the local rates, brokers said.
According to them the fall of the New York cotton prices below the 40 cents per lb level makes import competitive and the local spinners opt for imports rather than buying from the local market.
New York cotton futures rose further by 0.77 and 0.76 cents per lb at 41.95 and 43.90 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the distant December settlements respectively.
“The cotton situation is gradually changing in favour of the growers after an early slump and distress signals to official quarters as prices fell below the Rs2,000 per maund level”, market sources said.
Active ready offtake of the mills and spinners for the last couple of sessions reflects that current selling and buying rates suit the partners in cotton trade and it is positive signs leading to a healthy market condition in future too, they added.
Meanwhile, reports coming from the southern Punjab cotton belt indicate that picking operations of phutti have been resumed in some of the areas and the lint from here is expected to be on the market by the middle of the next month.
However, quality apprehensions in regard to central Punjab lint among the spinners continue affect price as it is still being sold at a discount as compared to its Sindh counterpart, dealers said.
On the export front, private sector exporters have registered export sale contracts for 770 bales with the Export Promotion Bureau on Sept 14 and 17, making the total export since the start of the new season from Sept 1 to 18,172 bales. Last season’s total sales amounted to 0.336m bales.
There was no change in the official spot rates for the second day in a row because of some improvement in the rate in physical trading.
Ready business was moderately active as till late in the evening about 10,000 bales changed hands as under:
SINDH VARIETY: 1,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs1,975, 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs1,975, 100 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs1,935, 400 bales, Tando Adam at Rs1,975, 200 bales, Khipro at Rs1,975, 400 bales, Jhole at Rs1,975, 400 bales, Bucheri at Rs1,975, 200 bales, Qazi Ahmad at Rs1,975, 400 bales, Nawabshah at Rs1,975 and 200 bales 800 bales at Rs1,985, Sakrand at Rs1,985.
The day’s highest rate of Rs1,990.00 was reported for a lot of 200 bales from a Tando Adam ginnery.
PUNJAB TYPE: 200 bales, Sahiwal at Rs1,950, 200 bales, Pakpattan at Rs1,950, 200 bales, Haroonabad at Rs1,950, 400 bales, Burewala at Rs1,950, 400 bales, Muridwala at Rs1,935, 400 bales, at Rs1,950, 200 bales, Pir Mahal at Rs1,935, 200 bales, Hasilpur at Rs1,955, 200 bales, Chichawatni at Rs1,950, 200 bales, at Rs1,925, 200 bales, Khanewal at Rs1,950, 200 bales, Gojra at Rs1,925, 100 bales, and Duniyapur at Rs1,900.