KARACHI, Aug 25: Cotton prices on Monday showed firm trend followed by reports of fresh rain in major cotton producing areas on the lower Sindh and suspension of picking operations of phutti.

Floor brokers said fresh arrivals of phutti were expected to be delayed for about a week if there was no fresh rain and in the process lint prices could further rise.

Reports reaching here indicate that it is raining in the lower Sindh cotton belt since Sunday evening until mid-day Monday and the downpour is claimed to be heavy, they said.

Phutti prices, which are already ruling high around Rs1,050 in Sindh and Rs1,100 per 40 kg in the central Punjab cotton belt where crop matures early and are expected to rise further depending on delay in the picking operations.

Market sources said lint prices, which had declined to Rs2,525 at the fag-end of the last week, were expected to rise again to an average price of Rs2,600 per maund owing to pressure on the arrivals from the Sindh ginneries.

The near-term price outlook appears to be on the higher side based on the supply and demand situation, and how the spinners and mills react to the changing scenario will be known during the next couple of sessions, they said.

However, one thing appears certain that export of textiles may become more expensive as an increase in lint prices has a chain negative impact on the entire textile sector.

“Spinners who have been planning their future purchasing strategy on the prediction of higher crop estimates are reexamining the plan according to post-rain supply position,” brokers said.

The interesting feature was that leading spinners played safe and did not try to chase prices further higher and bought only those lots which conform to their export parity levels, they said.

Official spot rates were, therefore, again firmly held at the previous levels, although in the ready section most of the deals were finalized above them depending on quality.

Ready offtake was modest totalling about 1,500 bales from new crop of Sindh as under: 100 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,575, 100 bales at Rs2,600; 300 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,600; 200 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,600 and 100 bales at Rs2,591.