With the fresh import of about 300,000 to 400,000 bales of cotton from India during the outgoing week, Pakistan has imported 1.1 million cotton bales from the neighboring country so far during the fiscal year, traders said on Saturday. “Pakistan is expected to import a total of 2.5 million bales from India this year,” Naseem Usman, a cotton trader, said, adding that the price of imported cotton was coming at 81 cents to 86 cents per pound.
He said that imports rose during the outgoing week because of the two factors: the recovery seen in rupee value and production of lower volume of prime quality cotton this year. Indian cotton is of high quality on the other hand.He said the recovery in rupee has made cotton import viable again. Spinning mill owners did not miss the opportunity of cheaper import and speeded the process of import from the neighboring country.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the rupee recovered by 3.28 percent in the last one month to date, as its value improved to Rs105.53 per dollar (closing rate of Friday) from historic high of Rs109 per dollar on September 26 in the interbank market.
Pakistan also imports high quality cotton from US and Brazil every year to produce export quality cotton yarn. Spinning mill owners, however, import higher quantity of cotton from India, as its cost and transportation time are lower than US and Brazil, Usman said.
Taqi Abbas, another cotton trader, said that import from India might slow down in the days and weeks to come due to increase in the rate of cotton.“India has increased rate of cotton to 86 cents per pound after New York cotton market (a benchmark market for cotton traders worldwide) strengthened in the last couple of days,” he said.He said Pakistan imported cotton from India at the landed cost of Rs7,200 to Rs7,300 per maund (37.324 kilogrammes) in the recent past, while the rate surged to Rs7,500 to Rs7,600 per maund since India raised the rate to 86 cents in dollar term.
He said that India, however, was not a reliable country for the import of the commodity, as it usually cancels import orders from Pakistan whenever the price of the commodity goes up at New York cotton market.
Shakeel Ahmed, another cotton broker, said that a few of Pakistani importers did not take delivery of cotton from India, when it raised its export rate, and opted to settle the deal in cash.The data by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed the country imported 52,098 tonnes of cotton in the first five months (July-November) of ongoing fiscal year, 42 percent lower than 90,285 tonnes imported in the same period last year.In rupee term, the imports fell approximately 33 percent to Rs12.37 billion this year from Rs18.45 billion last year, while in dollar term it plunged about 39 percent to $118.76 million from $194.61 million, it said.
Source:- thenews.com.pk
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