Subdued business was witnessed on the cotton market on Monday as mills and spinners kept on the sidelines in the process of trading, dealers said. The official spot rate was unmoved at Rs 6700, they said. In ready session, around 1000 bales of cotton changed hands at Rs 7000, they said.

According to market sources, trading activity was slow as leading participants were conspicuous by their absence. To achieve the desired cotton production target, we have to provide basic requirements to the cotton growers, experts said.

They also noted that cotton growers were facing shortage of irrigation water during the hot weather. The country was earning major part of foreign exchange some years ago, but now earning of textile exports is falling day by day due to lack of facilities and political uncertainty in the country, they noted. People related to the cotton business, calling necessary measures to save textile sector from disaster, they also demanded to save cotton sector from economic terrorism and launch an operation against seed-mafia, adulterators of fertilisers, pesticides and sellers of spurious inputs.

Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that the world over the cotton prices gaining ground but heap of unsold cotton is causing a lot of problems for businessmen, besides, he observed that cost of doing business was surging with the passage of time, which is also not a good sign for the economy. The following deals reported: nearly 400 bales of cotton from Bahawalpur at Rs 7000 and 600 bales of cotton from Sadiqabad done at the same rate, they said.

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The KCA Official Spot Rate for Local Dealings in Pakistan Rupees

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FOR BASE GRADE 3 STAPLE LENGTH 1-1/16"

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                                    MICRONAIRE VALUE BETWEEN 3.8 TO 4.9 NCL

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Rate              Ex-Gin   Upcountry   Spot Rate    Spot Rate    Difference

                    For      Price     Ex-Karachi  Ex. KHI. As   Ex-Karachi

                                                  on 22.04.2017

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37.324 kg          6,700      135        6,835         6,835            Nil

Equivalent

40 kgs             7,180      145        7,325         7,325            Nil

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Copyright Business Recorder, 2017