KARACHI: Lacklustre conditions prevailed on the cotton market on Monday as spinners kept to the sidelines amid short supply of quality lint.

Market reports suggest that big spinning groups are engaged in making payments against their import contracts and placing more orders to meet their consumption demand.

The local market behaved in line with easy trend on world’s major markets. Also slow off-take of cotton yarn and fabric contributed to depressed conditions, brokers said.

Due to falling cotton prices the phutti (seed-cotton) prices came down with Punjab variety reeled back to Rs3,300 to Rs3,700 and Sindh quality to Rs3,300 to Rs3,400 per 40kg.

The New York cotton market remained closed today due to public holiday but on the week-end it closed easy by 1.2 cents per lb. Most of the traders were reported busy in squaring up their books for maturing March contract.

Meanwhile, reports coming from interior of Sindh suggest that phutti picking has almost been completed and growers are levelling fields for the sowing of new crop. However, in Punjab there was still phutti flow but it was very slow.

The KCA spot rates were steady at the week-end level. Only one transaction of 1,255 bales was reported to have materialised from Saleh Pat at Rs6,800.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2017