Cotton supply rises 45%

KARACHI: Cotton supply from farms to ginning factories increased by 45 per cent in just a fortnight, reaching 1.44 million bales by September 15. In comparison, some 995,191 bales had arrived at the factories by the start of the month, data released on Saturday showed.

Of the total quantity, supply in Sindh stood at 806,550 bales while Punjab contributed around 640,000 bales.

In cotton trade on Saturday, prices went up by a further Rs100 to Rs6,950 per maund (37.324 kg) on the back of an increase in rates in the New York cotton market.

“Domestic market is getting support from the New York exchange where three-month December futures reached 98.79 cents per pound,” said Shakil Ahmed, a cotton analyst.

The market has also got support from talk that India has stopped export of the commodity to Pakistan, which is facing a shortfall of around two million bales.

Ahmed said China is fuelling the rally in New York as it needs to buy 10 million bales. Though China is a big producer, but its import demand rose because of flood damage to the crop.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2010.