Panic selling by ginners pushed rates down on the cotton market on Friday, dealers said. The official spot rate drifted lower by Rs 50 to Rs 6400, they said. In the ready session over 20,000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 6375-6690, they said. In both Sindh and Punjab, seed cotton rates were at Rs 2800-3000 per 40 kg, they said.

Market sources said that a kind of profit-taking was also seen amid rising trend in seed cotton arrivals. They said that traders who have enough stock, they were trying to sell at present levels in a bid to keep themselves from future losses. Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that increase in seed cotton arrivals caused sharp fall in prices.

Adds Reuters: ICE cotton futures fell over 4 percent on Thursday to a two-week low after markets were surprised by supply estimates from the US Department of Agriculture, which raised its projections for US and global production for the 2017/18 crop year.

Cotton contracts for December closed limit down, or 3 cents at 68.11 cents per lb, a two-week low. It traded within a range of 68.11 and 71.19 cents a lb. The contract also registered its worst intraday decline of 4.22 percent. World 2017/18 ending stocks are now projected at 90.1 million bales, an increase of 1.4 million from the July forecast, and 100,000 above 2016/17, the report showed. Total futures market volume rose by 25,386 to 43,241 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 2,454 to 221,546 contracts in the previous session.

The following deals reported: 2000 bales from Hyderabad at Rs 6375/6450, 1000 bales from Mirpurkhas at Rs 6375/6425, 400 bales from Sinjoro at Rs 6400/6425, 800 bales from Hala at Rs 6400/6450, 2000 bales from Kotri at Rs 6400/6450, 1000 bales from Winder at Rs 6400/6450, 2400 bales from Sanghar at Rs 6400/6475, 3000 bales from Tando Adam at Rs 6400/6475, 3000 bales from Shahdadpur at Rs 6400/6475, 400 bales from Tando M Khan at Rs 6450, 800 bales from Chichawatni at Rs 6625/6650, 200 bales from Burewala at Rs 6650, 200 bales from Mianchano at Rs 6650, 200 bales from Haroonabad at Rs 6650, 800 bales from Khanewal at Rs 6660/6675, 500 bales from Vehari at Rs 6675 and 400 bales from Gojra at Rs 6690, 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 10.08.2017

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37.324 kg           6,400      145       6,545        6,595           -50/-

Equivalent

40 kgs              6,859      155       7,014        7,067           -53/-

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Copyright Business Recorder, 2017