KARACHI, Sept 17: Active trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Saturday as price ideas of both spinners and ginners found a meeting ground in line with their parity levels.
Bulk of the buying again remained confined to the central Sindh type where some big deal businesses were reported below Rs2,200 per maund depending on quality, brokers said.
For quality reasons and higher prices, central Punjab lint failed to attract leading buyers, although stray lot business is being done each session, they said.
The lint quality of central Punjab in official parlance is said to be much higher as compared to its Sindh counterpart owing to its fibre strength but is said to be not an envy of the users, some others said.
“We are awaiting the resumption of picking operations of phutti in upper Sindh and southern Punjab cotton belts as the quality of lint produced from these areas is of high quality and most suited to the foreign textile markets,” spinners said.
The picking operations in both the belts are expected to be resumed by the early next month, which will cater to the needs of leading spinner groups against their forward sales of textiles, brokers said.
According to official sources, both the growers and ginners strictly follow the quality standard from picking to ginning operations and mostly turn out contamination-free lint, which fetches higher prices both in lint and spinned forms.
Meanwhile, official statement that the crop target of 15m bales could be achieved sent a wave of optimism among the spinners and mills as they need another bumper crop to honour their textile export orders.
There was, therefore, no change in the official spot rates, which were again held unchanged at Rs2.150 per maund.
Ready offtake was active as about 8,000 bales changed hands, the following being some of the notable deals:
SINDH VARIETY: 2,000 bales, Shahdadpur and 1,000 bales, Tando Muhammad Khan at Rs2,175 to Rs2,200; 1,400 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,150; 400 bales, Nawabshah at Rs2,160 to Rs2,175; 600 bales, Jhole at Rs2,175; 600 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,160; 400 bales, Matiari at Rs2,175; and 200 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,150.
PUNJAB TYPE: 200 bales, Jhang at Rs2,250; 200 bales, Mungi Bungalow and 200 bales, Bahawalnagar at Rs2,250; 400 bales, Mamon Kanjan at Rs2,225; 200 bales, each Tandialwali and Garma Raja at Rs2,225.
