KARACHI: Steady conditions prevailed on the cotton market on Thursday on sustained demand for cotton from spinners and some exporters. However, the short supply of phutti (seed cotton) once again restricted activity.
The current spell or rains in Sindh and in Punjab, particularly in cotton-growing areas, may temporarily disturb phutti supply. But brokers believe it would ultimately be good for standing cotton crop.
Strong buying helped price touch Rs7,000 per maund (around 38 kilograms) at one stage. It is being estimated that supply of phutti in Punjab would improve by the next month.
Currently, most of the supply was coming from Sindh where arrivals of phutti are normal and ginning units are largely dependent on supply from Sindh.
Though the US and Chinese cotton markets remained easy, the Indian market was steady amid reports of rains in cotton-growing belt in the state of Gujrat.
Steady flow of buying orders kept pouring in throughout the session which pushed prices higher on the ready counter. The Karachi Cotton Association left its spot rates unchanged.
Major deals on the ready counter were: 1,800 bales from Shahdadpur (Rs6,750 to Rs6,850), 2,000 bales Tando Adam (Rs6,750 to Rs6,850), 2,000 bales Sanghar (Rs6,750 to Rs6,800), 1,600 bales Mirpurkhas (Rs6,750 to Rs6,800), 1,400 bales Hyderabad (Rs6,750 to Rs6,800), 200 bales Bahawalnagar (Rs6,800), 200 bales Toba Tek Singh (Rs6,850), 200 bales Vehari (Rs6,900), 600 bales Chichawatni (Rs6,950 to Rs7,000) and 200 bales Sahiwal (Rs7,000).
