Prices maintained firm trend on the cotton market on Thursday in the process of trading activity, dealers said. The official spot rates were higher by Rs 100 to Rs 7900, they added. In ready session, over 14000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 7750 and Rs 8300, they said. Rates of seed cotton per 40kg in Sindh were up by Rs 100 to Rs 3100-3500, in Punjab prices were at Rs 3500-4000, they said. In Balochistan, seed cotton prices were rose by Rs 100 to Rs 3600-3700, they said.

In Sindh and Punjab, Binola prices per maund rates were at Rs 1500-1600, they said and adding that polyester fibre per kg rates were at Rs 187. Market sources said that mills and spinners indulged in forward buying of quality cotton to cover their urgent needs. Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that rates of cotton may not show sharp fluctuations in days to come, instead rates move up modestly owing to cautious buying by mills.

Adds Reuters: ICE cotton futures rose over 1% on Wednesday as some investors covered their short positions ahead of the weekly export sales data due on Thursday and traders said the natural fiber was seeing some pickup in demand at current price levels. Cotton contracts for December rose 0.70 cent, or 1.18%, to 59.84 cents per lb at 1:25 pm EDT (1725 GMT). Total futures market volume fell by 4,057 to 14,640 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 668 to 213,645 contracts in the previous session.

Following deals were reported: 1000 bales of cotton from Shahdadpur at Rs 7750/7800, 1600 bales from Tando Adam at Rs 7750/7800, 600 bales from Mirpurkhas at Rs 7750, 1800 bales from Sanghar at Rs 7750/7800, 1400 bales from Nawabshah at Rs 7850, 600 bales from Shahpur Chakar at Rs 7750/7800, 200 bales from Chodagi at Rs 7800, 400 bales from Maqsoodo Rind at Rs 7850, 1600 bales from Khanewal at Rs 8200/8300, 1000 bales from Burewala at Rs 8000/8200, 1200 bales from Haroonabad at Rs 8000/8200, 600 bales from Chichawatni at Rs 8000/8200, 400 bales from Arifwala at Rs 8200, 200 bales from Samandari at Rs 8150, 400 bales from Hasilpur at Rs 8000/8100, 40 bales from Pak pattan at Rs 8100, 1200 bales from Vehari at Rs 8000/8100, 200 bales from Layyah 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"

                    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 21-08-2019

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37.324 kg          7,900      160         8,060        7,960        + 100/-

Equivalent

40 kgs             8,466      171         8,637        8,530        + 107/-

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Copyright Business Recorder, 2019