Rates went up on the cotton market on Saturday amid hovering fears of damage to the standing crop due to severe hot weather, particularly in the Punjab, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 5950, they said. In the ready session, over 20,000 bales of cotton changed hand between Rs 5850-6150, they said. In Sindh seed cotton prices were higher by Rs 100 to Rs 2700-2900 and in the Punjab, rates also gained sharply at Rs 2800-3000, as per 40 kg, they said.

Binola prices followed the suit, trading at Rs 1200 in Sindh and in the Punjab it was available at Rs 1400 as per maund. According to the market sources, prices gained on rising fears of lower-than-expected crop for the current season mainly because of damages to the cotton crop. Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that it's before time to say something about the damage. It depends on circumstances that how the market reacts to the reports, he added.

The ginners were busy in the cautious selling ahead of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) fortnightly report, expected next week. Adds Reuters: ICE Cotton futures settled lower on Friday to post a weekly decline of over 7 percent, the December 2017 contract's biggest weekly fall, after a US government report this week raised its projections for a big crop.

Cotton for December settled down 0.05 cent, or 0.07 percent, at 69.07 cents per lb. The contract traded within a range of 68.63 and 69.3 cents a lb. Total futures market volume fell by 2,704 to 18,028 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 1,652 to 242,288 contracts in the previous session.

The following deals reported: 1200 bales from Nawabshah at Rs 6050-6100, 1600 bales from Sanghar at Rs 5850-5900, 400 bales from Jam Sahib at Rs 6100, 3000 bales from Tando Adam at Rs 5850-5950, 600 bales from Sakrand at Rs 6060, 2000 bales from Shahdadpur at Rs 5900-5950, 800 bales from Kumb at Rs 6060, 400 bales from Mehrabpur at the same level, 800 bales from Mirpurkhas at Rs 5850-5900, same number from Ranipur at Rs 6060, 1000 bales from Saleh Pat at Rs 6000-6060, 400 bales from Sarhari at Rs 6050, 800 bales from Kotri at Rs 5850-5900, 1200 bales from Hyderabad at Rs 5850, 400 bales from Pir Mahal at Rs 6175-6185, 200 bales from Gojra at the same rate, 600 bales from Rajanpur at Rs 6175, 200 bales from Hasilpur at Rs 6150, 400 bales from Bakkar at the same rate, 800 bales from Burewala, same figure from Haroonabad, 600 bales from Chichawatni and 200 bales from Mianwali all done at the same rate, dealers 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 15-09-2017

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37.324 kg         5,950        145        6,095        6,095            NIL

Equivalent

40 kgs            6,377        155        6,532        6,532            NIL

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Copyright Business Recorder, 2017