KARACHI: Cotton prices remained under pressure on Thursday amid slow trading, with reports suggesting that lower yarn prices influenced the market.

Barring a few spinners who were seen active in the trading ring, buyers generally stayed away. However, the availability of quality cotton was becoming difficult with each passing day.

According to market sources, ginners are currently holding less than 200,000 bales and the ratio of quality cotton was quite low which was the main reason for restricted trading activity.

Reports coming for Sindh cotton fields indicate that partial arrivals of cotton from southern districts of the province could start from the first week of next month. The early sowing coupled with current heatwave helped the cotton crop mature early, brokers said.

Naseem Usman, the chairman of the Karachi Brokers Association, said that arrivals of next crop phutti (seed cotton) at high pace would not be possible before the middle of July because in Punjab sowing was late due to prolonged spell of pre-monsoon rains.

The Karachi Cotton Association’s spot rates were unchanged. Major deals on the ready counter were: 200 bales from Rohri (low quality) (Rs4,200), 400 bales Sher Sultan (Rs5,200), 100 bales Chichawatni (Rs5,300) and 400 bales Fazilpur (Rs5,800) (conditional).

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2016