KARACHI: Trading on the cotton market on Monday slowed down owing to ongoing traders protests over tax related issues.

There is an air of uncertainty with buyers remaining cautious particularly.

A leading broker said that there are growing concerns in general and textile industry in particular that payment of sales tax at multiple stages would squeeze working capital of industry.

The ginners on their part are also worried about 5 per cent sales tax on filers and 8pc on non-filers on oilcake dealers, he added.

Consequently, trading activity considerably declined as buyers took to the sidelines and preferred to mark time.

Nevertheless, phutti (seed cotton) and cotton prices generally remained steady.

The world leading cotton markets remained mixed with New York cotton closed easy and Chinese cotton was firm. Indian cotton also closed easy.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were firm at 8,300 per maund.

Trading on ready counter was slow where limited numbers of deals were reported to have finalised. They are: 200 bales, station Mirpurkhas was, at Rs8,350; 200 bales, Hyderabad, at Rs8,375; 200 bales, Matiari, at Rs8,375; 200 bales, Tando Adam, at Rs8,375; and 200 bales, Pakpattan, at Rs8,450.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2019