Market Report- Pakistan 04 Dec 2023

Pakistan Local Cotton Market:
(Global cotton trade suffered from inflation and decreased textile interest, impacting the international market, while local markets remained stable in pricing amid the overall slowdown. Expectations point toward a continued market decline due to the projected absence of heightened demand in the near future)

1- The Local cotton market remained dull, buyers didn’t show interest in buying due to financial crunch and low business demand of all textile items. Its been few weeks that demand is not taking boom as inflation hit the consumer buying power directly.
2- Energy costs going up, buyers are only buying small amounts when they urgently need them. The mills haven’t secured long-term deals yet but don’t want to keep a lot of stock because it costs a lot of financial issues.
3- Pakistan has exported at least 125,000 cotton bales this season and the quantum is set to improve further during the current crop season.
4- The cotton consignments are being destined for China, Vietnam and Indonesia and a significant.
5- It is hoped that a similar quantity of cotton bales will be exported during the remaining period of the season.
6- Ginners say a better quality of lint and bullish international markets are attracting foreign buyers towards Pakistani cotton.
7- PCGA issued a report and showing total arrival of cotton in this season uptill now is 7.7 million
8- Last week, cotton prices in Punjab and Sindh showed softness, business materialized in ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 18,000 per maund,
(USC 0.68~0.77 lbs) with Phutti prices at Rs 8,500 per 40kg. In Sindh, cotton rate was Rs 15,000 to Rs 17,500 per maund, while in Punjab it ranged from Rs 16,000 to Rs 18,000 per maund. KCA dropped Rs. 200 to at Rs. 17,000 per maund and PSF remained unchanged at Rs. 360 PKR/kg.

Local Yarn Market:
(The market is estimated to continue lenient and under sale burden due to limited demand and surplus of yarn)

1- The local yarn market continued to see a slowdown in business activity and lower demand. Coarse counts are also under pressure due to decreased Siro yarn exports.
2- Mills find it difficult to accumulate stocks due to markup and attempts to minimize stocks
3- The prices of PSF have stayed stable in the domestic market and are expected to remain so next week.
4- The Faisalabad market is moderate with some PV sales at adjusted bids, business activity, and residual cash flow concerns..

Export Yarn Market:
(Export yarn market remained under slow business activity in terms of orders confirmation. However, better demands was seen and it is expected that orders will start getting confirmed in weeks to come. Prices are expected to remain in same range as market is already touching bottom level of prices)

1- Export yarn market remained under slow and dull business activity.
2- Customer kept on checking prices but order materialization was slow. Only few orders were placed where customer found their desired price levels.
3- Suppliers showed their fullest interest to mature every inquiry they received and offered quite attractive prices.
4- Overall cotton in domestic and international market remained soft.
5- However, cost of production in Pakistan has been increased and at the same time, USD against PAK RUPEE Is appreciating which is another worry for exporters.
6- Chinese customers floated improved number of inquiries against which order materialization was dull too. It is expected that business activity will pick up as now customers are discussing new orders.
7- European customers floated better number of inquiries this week. Some deals were matured as well where customers achieved their target prices. It is expected that business will remain better in days to come.

Local Fabric Market:
(We expect the local fabric to remain sluggish for both narrow and wider-width fabrics for the coming week)

1- The local fabric market slowed down considerably and thus dull activity was reported throughout the week for both narrow and wider-width fabrics.
2- Local buyers and finishers remained sidelined and shared limited inquiries for both narrow and wider-width looms and resultantly limited order materialization was reported for both narrow and wider-width fabrics.
3- Asking prices softened a bit owing to soft yarn prices for both narrow & wider-width fabrics.
4- The majority of the weavers booked their narrow-width looms till end-December ’2023 and also have coverage of their wide-width looms until Mid-January 2024 and also booked their special looms till End-January’2024 and are offering onward deliveries.

Export Fabric Market:
(The export fabric market is facing a challenging situation due to the low global demand and the sales pressure on the suppliers. The suppliers are trying to reduce their prices and get new orders, but the buyers are not showing much interest. The market outlook is uncertain and depends on the recovery of the textile industry in the major markets)

1- The global demand for export fabric remains low, creating a sale pressure on the suppliers.
2- Customers are still holding on to their stocks and not making new purchases. Only a few customers placed urgent orders at lower price level, which the suppliers agreed to.
3- Yarn prices showed a slight decline as the suppliers tried to clear their space and secure new orders. Fabric prices did not change much.
4- There have very few inquiries from European buyers, while Far East and USA buyers are silent. This results in very limited orders being finalized.
5- European customers are very careful about their stocks and do not want to increase their inventory. They are focusing on buying only urgent orders.
6- Suppliers have only 2~3 weeks of orders and are offering deliveries from late December to early January onwards.
7- Wider width suppliers are also looking for new orders due to the low demand, but they are still in a better position and are offering deliveries from late January onwards.

Bed Linen and Towel:
(Flow of inquiries have increased in retail resulted in competitive price costing. High production costs are effecting to meet target prices)

1- There is a bit movement in flow of inquiries in market which resulted in vigorous costing from various suppliers. High production costs , increasing fuel prices and very competitive price points has made very difficult to meet targets. Big projections and institutional sector has 80% capacity running at big suppliers.

Garments:
(While the garment industry as a whole is struggling, certain European and American brands and stores are expecting orders to fill factory capacity)

1- Overall Pakistan’s garment industry is facing uneven business activity, where factories are not getting enough orders to fill their 100% production capacities. Due to inflation, it has been observed that many retailers and brands have reduced their buying.
2- Normally, factories receive projection-based orders from large retailers, but there has been a slow sentiment in the market in the 4th quarter of 2023, one of the reasons being global inflation. For onward orders factories are offering Early Feb 2024 deliveries.
3- In the garment industry, sustainability is critical for reducing environmental impact, improving working conditions, meeting customer demand, increasing resource efficiency, and future-proofing the industry.
4- From the denim sector hopeful signals are coming from the EU. economy and the recovery from the pandemic seems to have taken. However, it’s essential to recognize that consumer confidence is still somewhat tempered due to persisting uncertainties in the global landscape.

Crude Oil:

1- Crude Oil prices opened at USD 74.86 with lower level as compared to last week closing figures. in this week, crude oil prices showed mix trend and closed on lower side by the end of week.
2- In last day of the week, Crude Oil price closed at USD 74.07 with decrease of USD 79 cents as of opening figure of week.

Exchange Rate:

1- In last week values of Pak rupee appreciated against US Dollar, and other major currencies showed mix trend in both interbank and open markets.
2- At the end of the week, the Euro closed on a negative note with a figure of 1.8 and the British Pound closed on a positive note with a figure 1.27 against USD.

New York Cotton Future:

1- The New York Cotton futures started the week lower than the previous week’s closing figures. NYCF Showed mix sentiment in this week and closed on higher side. The closing figures for the week were:
2- On the last day of the week, MAR 2024 closed at 79.42 with increase of 16 points.
3- On the last day of the week, MAY 2024 closed at 80.12 with rose of 25 points.
4- On the last day of the week, JUL 2024 closed at 80.77 with higher  of 32 points.
5- On the last day of the week, OCT 2024 closed at 78.39 by surge up of 9 points.

Liver Pool Indices:

1- Liverpool Index A opened at 90.90 on the same level as the previous week’s closing figure.
2- In this week Index “A” showed mixed sentiment and closed on the lower side by the end.
3- On the last day of the week, LPI “A” closed at 89.70 with a decrease of 120 points.