THE Karachi wholesale commodity markets last week consolidated their previous gains as commercial houses remained active buyers at the current levels, mainly on export counters under the lead of wheat.
Among essentials, wheat prices rose further by Rs20 per maund followed by renewed buying by exporters and local flour mills. Basmati kernel and basmati were also quoted higher by Rs10-20 amid active local trading.
On the other hand, sugar remained under pressure and was marked down for the consecutive third week and was quoted lower by Rs20-40 per maund.
The notable feature of the week was that cotton prices fell from the recent all-time high of Rs13,000 per maund to 11,000, showing a decline of Rs1,000-2,000 per maund depending on the quality of lint in trade, dealers said and added prices were still higher and were well above the export parity level of the textile sector.
The fall was attributed to crash of New York cotton futures markets where both the maturing March and the ruling May contracts ran into speculative selling from the same set, which caused the recent price flare-up. Both the contracts late in the week quoted lower around 184 and 183 cents per lb.
Dealers said although wheat prices remained stable around previous levels as some local private sector exporters covered their forward positions to maintain shipment deadlines.
An idea of physical shipments to various countries under forward deals may well be had from the fact that three ships were on the port loading well over 0.110m tons of the commodity and some more were awaiting berths, they added.
Market sources said bulk of the activity on the wholesale market was confined to both leading export commodities including rice and wheat but prices remained stable around previous levels as supplies from upcountry markets were fairly steady, they added.
Unlike previous weeks, industrial sector also showed lively trading as some big houses remained active buyers both at the rise and fall to cover their forward positions to meet their near-term consumption requirements.
News from the sugar front was satisfactory followed by reports of fall in prices and active ready business by both commercial houses and some speculative traders, brokers said.
However, the fall in prices of sugar was modest that too at the wholesale level but there was no change in the ready section at the retailers end, they added.
On the other hand, wheat maintained a steady posture on reports of steady exports and strong presence of private sector exporters on the market to build-up stocks against fresh export allocations.
On counters of other essentials, prices of pulses remained steady and did not show much change despite reports of fresh arrivals of imported stuff including shipload of chickpeas over the week, dealers said.
The cereal sector, which showed sharp rise last week, remained dormant as prices of most cereals were held at the last levels amid active ready demand from local consumers, they added.
But some of the imported stuff did not show any easing as prices of most of the essential items remained on the higher side and importers were not obliged to further lower their selling prices, they said.
Despite steady physical shipments of wheat under forward deals to various destinations, its prices on the wholesale markets remained stable and did not show any rise.
Rice shipments were also maintained on the higher side as the private sector exporter remained active buyers against forward sales from the open market but prices did not show much change.
However, news from the cotton front was a bit encouraging as local prices after having gone up to an all-time high of Rs13,800 per maund on credit started to fall during the week and were quoted at Rs11,800 as spinners and mills did not chase prices higher and kept to sidelines, industry sources said.
Price changes were, however, normal as buyers and sellers kept to sidelines as the markets were closed and no business was reported from some of the leading markets in the southern Punjab, dealers said.
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