Cotton Prices Hit The Roof In Pakistan

Cotton price hit record high of Rs6,950 per maund due to shortage of the commodity and sluggish trading on the cotton market today.

Dealers at the Karachi Cotton Exchange (KCA) said 400 bales of Haroonabad were sold at the historic high of Rs6,925/Rs6,950 per maund on credit, and 4,700 bales of Rahim Yar Khan changed hands at Rs6,800. Spot rates of the Karachi Cotton Exchange stayed unchanged at Rs6,700 a maund and Rs7,180 per 40kg.

“Indian ginners and growers, who went on strike from April 29, have so far failed to convince the authorities concerned to relax restrictions on raw cotton export,” S M Ayub Usman, a Faisalabad-based dealer, said.

“While Indian spinners have succeeded in convincing their†textile authorities that unchecked export of raw cotton has hurt them badly and it has adversely impacted the value-added sector.” Usman said that domestic prices of lint continued to skyrocket due to the export ban imposed by the Indian government recently. Now mills had hardly any stocks of raw cotton left with them.

A general body meeting of the Karachi Cotton Brokers Forum was held under the chairmanship of Abdul Wahid, a senior cotton broker, at the Karachi Cotton Exchange the other day. At the meeting, Wahid addressed issues being faced by the registered cotton brokers of the KCA. Brokers unanimously passed a couple of resolutions at the meeting.

The brokers urged the federal minister for textile to help solve problems concerning opening of hedge trading in cotton through the KCA. They said that 320 licensed cotton brokers were engaged in cotton trading and steps should be taken to facilitate them.

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan should take cotton brokers at the KCA into confidence before taking measures on cotton trade, as they had professional expertise in cotton trade, they said.