KARACHI: Buyers kept looking for quality lint on the cotton market on Saturday. However, short supply kept prices firm as spinners and some exporters strove to get hold of any deal offered for sale.

Floor brokers said that strong demand for quality lint pushed prices higher by Rs150 to Rs200 per maund during the week. The underlying sentiment remained strong and steady.

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan’s (TCP) half-heartedly pursued cotton procurement drive has disappointed growers and ginners as it failed to produce required results, brokers said.

Instead of benefitting growers and ginners, the TCP’s bale-purchasing programme, brokers say, has caused huge losses to ginners who lifted phutti from growers at higher rates.

The world cotton markets remained steady where New York cotton gave mixed trend as futures closed with divergent trend in price structure.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were unchanged.

The following major deals were made on ready counter: 1,200 bales Shahdadpur at Rs3,500-4,000, 400 bales Hasilpur at Rs4,490-4,700, 4,200 bales Rahimyar Khan at Rs4,950-5,000, 3,800 bales Sadiqabad at Rs4,950-5,000, 3,600 bales Khanpur at Rs4,950-5,000, 2,300 bales Rajanpur at Rs5,000, 800 bales Burewala at Rs4,800-4,900, 1,000 bales Haroonabad at Rs4,750-4,800, 600 bales For Abbas at Rs4,750-4,775, 400 bales Lodhran at Rs4,800 and 1,000 bales Yazman Mandi at Rs4,800-4,900.

Published in Dawn December 21th , 2014