Trading Remain Active with Drop in Cotton Prices

At the Karachi Cotton Exchange on Tuesday, trading remain active while spot rates fell Rs50/maund to Rs6,250/maund (37.324kg) and Rs6,698/40kg. Ex-Karachi rates also dropped to Rs6,395/maund and Rs6,853/40kg after an addition of Rs145 and Rs155 as upcountry expenses, respectively.

KCE recorded 11 transactions of around 15,000 bales at a price of Rs6,225 to Rs6,400/maund. Transactions were recorded from Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Hyderabad, Kotri, Shahdadpur, Tando Adam, Qaboola, Burewala, Sahiwal, Khanewal and Chichawatni.

While at the Karachi Cotton Association on Tuesday fixed the official spot rate, or base price, for Grade 3 cotton at 6,698 rupees per maund (40 kg).

In the kerb market, the key crop varieties traded in the range of 6,225 to 6,400 rupees per maund.

According to analyst, the ginners had oversold lint in the market on the hopes for bringing the cottonseed prices down that would ultimately benefit them.

On the other end, cotton growers urged the government for providing level playing field to local farmers in order to reduce the import of cotton into the country, which was discouraging the cotton farmers across the country.

They said that billion of dollars were being spent annually on the import of the cotton to fulfill the domestic requirements of local industry. The cotton import into the country grew by 46 percent, where as exports reduced by 49 percent during the last fiscal year ended on June 30, 2017.

They stressed the need for taking necessary measures to check the import of cotton into the country to stabilize prices of the commodity in the local market to benefit the lint farmers particularly small farmers.

President Kissan Ithad Khalid Khokhar urged the government to take appropriate measures to safeguard the interest of local cotton growers.

He also urged the need for enhancing research expenditures, improved seed varieties and encouraging the local farmers by providing them special incentives to enhance cotton producing to its true potential of 20 million bales.

He asked for reducing the cost of production, per 40 kg cost of production of local cotton was recorded at Rs 2,533 as compared with the prices of the commodity in the neighboring country where it was recorded at Rs 1,076 per 40 kg and also encourage the farmers to grow more crop and enhance production to compete with the international markets.