Fall in cotton prices short-lived

After surging by 6.16 percent from its previous closing, on Monday of last week, Shankar-6 raw cotton prices closed in positive territory to rise by 1.93 percent by the end of the week.

It may be recalled that Shankar-6 cotton prices which had surged to an all-time high of above Rs 60,000 per candy (1 candy = 356 kg) had slipped to Rs 54,750 per candy on February 25.

However on February 28, cotton prices skyrocketed by 6.16 percent to touch Rs 58,125 per candy.

On March 1, the momentum continued and prices rose to Rs 59,125 per candy, up 1.72 percent from the previous day.

Since Wednesday was a festival holiday, deals were few, so market stayed stable at Rs 59,125 per candy.

On Thursday, cotton markets resumed trading and Shankar-6 cotton prices grew by a marginal 0.42 percent to Rs 59,375 per candy.

However on the last day of the trading week, they slipped to Rs 59,250 per candy, down slightly by 0.21 percent.

The fall in cotton prices last week was short-lived. As soon as the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) reduced crop estimates for cotton to 31.2 million bales (1 bale = 170 kg), they once again started ascending.

Cotton prices are once again within sniffing distance of Rs 60,000 per candy. What remains to be seen is whether they will once again scale this mark in the current week.