Cotton market: ginners reluctant to sell at lower rates.

Business slowed down on the cotton market on Friday as most of the ginners showed no interest in selling below their psychological levels, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 7050, they added. Prices of seed cotton in Sindh per 40 kg were unchanged at Rs 3000 and Rs 3500, in Punjab rates followed same pattern, not a slight change at Rs 3000 and Rs 4000, dealers said. In the ready session, nearly, 4,000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 6650-7350, dealers said.

Market sources said that ginners were confused under the circumstances, because prices were not picking up despite diminishing stock of fine quality. The yarn prices may decline as India permitted to export of yarn, this factor likely to push yarn rates down slightly in the local market, cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said. India, has restored an incentive scheme for cotton yarn exports, an official order said. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), a unit of the trade ministry, gave no reason for restoring export benefits for yarn, a value-added product used by textile mills.

Besides, China produced 6.31 million tonnes of cotton in 2013, down 7.7 percent on the prior year, CNCotton.com said, citing customs data. Cotton acreage in the world's top producer and consumer of the fibre has declined significantly in recent years as labour costs rise and farmers switch to more profitable crops. China's plan only to trial subsidies for cotton farmers in top growing region Xinjiang risks slashing the country's output of fibre unless support is offered to farmers elsewhere, the head of a major industry association said on Thursday. Cotton exports from Ivory Coast reached 339,690 tonnes in 2013, up more than 16 percent from the previous year, provisional port data showed on Thursday.

Reuters adds: ICE cotton futures eased on Thursday, as technically overbought conditions prompted selling and as world equities markets fell on disappointing manufacturing data in China. The most-active March cotton contract on ICE Futures US closed down 0.51 cent, or 0.6 percent, at 87.33 cents a lb. The session's trade pulled the March contract from the overbought territory it had climbed into, bringing the contract's 14-day relative strength index down to 65.5 from as high as 72.9 earlier this week.

The following deals reported as 200 bales from Shah Pur Chakar at Rs 6650, 400 bales from Shahdad Pur at Rs 6900 to 7000, 1000 bales from Kabir wala at Rs 7000-7050, 400 bales from Haroonabad at Rs 7200 (condition), 200 bales from Mian Chanu at Rs 6800, 400 bales from Arif wala at Rs 6900, 200 bales from Burewala at Rs 6900, 400 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs 7100, 200 bales from Vehari at Rs 7050, 600 bales from Noor Pur Noranga at Rs 7150 to 7190, 400 bales from Mian wali at Rs 7350 and 200 bales from Jalal Pur at Rs 7200, they added.

Source : brecorder.com