Cotton up as farmers hold on to kapas stock

Cotton moved up Rs 200-300 a candy of 356 kg on Monday due to short supply even as demand from domestic mills was limited. According to brokers, the fibre is likely to remain high as there are not enough stocks. According to a Rajkot-based cotton broker, farmers are not ready to sell kapas or raw cotton, leading to the shortage. Moreover, ginning is also low in Gujarat, the broker said.

The Sankar-6 variety was traded at Rs 37,800-38,200 a candy. It has gained almost Rs 700 in the past three days. Arrivals declined from last week�s 7,000-8,000 bales of 170 kg each to 3,500-4,000 bales in Gujarat. About 8,000-9,000 bales arrived in the rest of the country.

Kapas or raw cotton reached Rs 1,000-1,010 for a maund of 20 kg. The fibre was steady in South India on normal demand from local mills and limited selling.

In Andhra Pradesh, new cotton traded at Rs 38,500-39,300 a candy in Adilabad. In Guntur, the 31-mm variety was offered at Rs 39,500-40,500 a candy. In Warangal, the 30-mm variety quoted at Rs 39,500-40,500 a candy.

In Karnataka, Jaidhar 22-mm traded at Rs 32,500-33,500 a candy, 29-mm quoted at Rs 37,500-38,500 a candy and 30-mm at Rs 38,500-39,500 a candy.

According to the Department Of Agriculture, cotton was sown in around 9.72 million hectares till last week, which is about 3,22,000 hectares less than the past year. In Gujarat, area under cotton is around 6 lakh hectares less than the past year.