Prices of seed cotton in Sindh and Balochistan were at Rs 3000-3500 and in Punjab seed cotton prices at Rs 3000-3600, they said.
According to market sources, cotton yarn off-take showed an improvement, which helped traders in making new deals.
Whereas, the said that it was interesting to note that cotton prices remained steady even after the release of Statuary Release Order (SRO) removing Customs Duty and Sales Tax on the commodity's imports.
There were higher apprehensions that local cotton prices would come under pressure once the SRO is issued. However, there is still substantial demand for local cotton coming from the textile industry, they added.
Meanwhile, there are strong indications that the current cotton season would end much earlier. Currently the third and last picking is going on and the flow of (Phutti) seed cotton is very slow. Cotton experts have warned the government that in order to avoid huge cotton import bill next year, necessary measures should be taken at war footing for increasing cotton production.
Massive reduction in cotton cultivation area, the crop had been suffering from other factors, including poor quality seed and large scale use of expired pesticides, other experts said. All this has pulled down cotton output from around 15 million bales to little over 10 million bales in a period of five years, they said.
Leading cotton analyst said that prices may keep present levels in the near future.
Reports showing that seed cotton (Phutti) equivalent to 10.6 million bales have reached ginneries across Pakistan till February 1, registering a shortfall by 7.23 per cent compared to corresponding period of last year.
According to reports, agriculture department has started training for cotton growers under off-season cotton management strategy to save the cotton crops from attack of Gulabi Sundi (pink bollworm). In first phase, cotton growers in 1065 villages would be imparted training and guidance.
In it's last meeting, the Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) suggested 10.8 million bales of cotton for total production, it seems that total cotton production figure is very close with the said figure, they said.
The following deals reported: 1500 bales of cotton from B. City at Rs 8050, 1600 bales from Rajanpur at Rs 8800/8850, 1200 bales from Gojra at Rs 7700 and 400 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs 8000, 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 02-02-2019
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37.324 kg 8,700 160 8,860 8,860 NIL
Equivalent
40 kgs 9,324 171 9,495 9,495 NIL
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