KARACHI: The cotton market maintained its last two days’ posture on Thursday with prices remained on the higher side and trading activity staying fairly brisk.

This was in line with global trend where leading cotton markets are currently holding high ground and only moving in a narrow frame. Prices on the New York cotton market were hovering between a seasonal high of 75 and 77.21 US cents per lb.

Similarly, Indian cotton prices have risen to Rs42,000 per candy (356 kilograms) while Chinese cotton prices were also reported to be on the higher side.

Spinners in Pakistan have already purchased around 9.7 million bales from the domestic market and are reported to have booked import orders amounting to 2.2m to 2.3m bales.

Brokers said small and financially weak spinners were replenishing their stocks from the local market, but big spinners were engaged in making payments against their import orders.

The Karachi Cotton Association’s spot rates were unchanged on Thursday. Major deals on the ready counter were: 1,000 bales from Bahawalpur at Rs6,600 to Rs6,700, 1,200 bales from Dharanwala at Rs6,700 to Rs6,750, 1,400 bales from Faqirwali at Rs6,700 to Rs6,750, 1,000 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs6,775 to Rs6,800, 2,000 bales from Haroonabad at Rs6,800 to Rs7,000 and 3,100 bales from Sadiqabad at Rs6,900.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2017