KARACHI: Cotton prices remained under pressure on Thursday owing to select buying from spinners amid sluggish demand on domestic and world markets.

Though trading resumed on overnight easy note, it recovered slightly by mid-day to close easy on slower cotton demand from spinners and exporters, brokers said.

It also impacted phutti (seed cotton) prices which are currently being quoted at Rs2,500 to Rs3,050 per 40 kilograms for Sindh variety and Rs2,800 to Rs3,100 for Punjab quality. The world cotton markets gave mixed trend with New York recovering from last two days’ decline and Indian cotton markets moving lower ahead of Diwali festival and higher phutti (seed cotton) arrivals, they added.

The Indian cotton on higher arrivals of phutti is currently under tremendous pressure and is being quoted at around Rs37,000 per candy (356kg) against Rs50,000 at the start of the season.

According to reports, Indian exporters are keen to export cotton to Pakistan and made offers at much lower rates to attract Pakistani importers. As per details, they are offering cotton at 71 US cents per lb against prevailing prices of 74-75 cents on the domestic market.

Cotton broker Naseem Usman said that if Pakistani spinners start booking cotton imports from India, it would not reach before December, 2016. The Karachi Cotton Association left its spot rate unchanged.

Major deals on the ready counter were: 1,000 bales from Nawabshah (Rs5,800 to Rs5,850), 1,000 bales Khairpur (Rs6,000 to Rs6,075), 1,600 bales Saleh Pat (Rs6,050), 2,000 bales Rohri (Rs6,050 to Rs6,075), 1,000 bales Rajanpur (Rs6,100), 1,800 bales Shadan Lund (Rs6,100 to Rs6,150), 1,400 bales Fazilpur (Rs6,100), 2,400 bales Layyah (Rs6,125 to Rs6,175), 3,400 bales Mianwali (Rs6,100 to Rs6,150) and 1,600 bales Faqirwali (Rs6,125 to Rs6,150).

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2016