Despite increased fresh inflows in the first two months of the current season, raw cotton spot prices in the domestic market may rule steady at the current levels in the next few days mainly on sluggish buying from domestic mills due to below average quality amid dull export demand from China.
Prices of major cotton varieties such as Shankar-6, H-4, J-34 and MCU-5 are ruling more or less steady in the past few days. Spot prices in the domestic market witnessed only marginal changes in November. The average spot prices were somewhat higher in the few varieties of short staple while prices moved down in long and extra long staple.
?Daily inflows of raw cotton in the country have increased to 2.15 lakh bales this week. However, domestic mills seem to be evincing little interest in the domestic supplies as the quality of raw cotton is below average level. There are reports of mirconaire (fibre fineness) problem in Maharashtra cotton while problems of staple and grade in Gujarat cotton,? Rajesh Chandrani, export manager, Amersey Bros told FE.
There are some enquiries for export from Pakistan and Bangladesh but active buying from China – the major buyer of Indian cotton – is absent in the market, he said.Total arrivals of new cotton by mid-November for the current season have been placed at around 40 lakh bales (each of 170 kg) of the total estimated national crop of around 296 lakh bales, sources said.For the cotton season 2007-08, the combined crop in the northern region (Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan) is estimated to be around 54 lakh bales over the previous season?s 52 lakh bales. In the central region (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh), total size is estimated at 183 lakh bales (172 lakh bales).