KARACHI: The cotton market maintained a bullish streak on Tuesday as lint supply fails to meet strong demand from spinners and some exporters.

Floor brokers said phutti (seed cotton) prices also rose to a seasonal high because of strong demand. There is panic buying from needy mills and some exporters who seem to be in a rush to build up their inventory a fearing further rise in lint prices.

Market sources disclosed that a number of spinners have already placed import order from Indian and West African countries to meet their demand and around 100,000 bales have been booked.

The relentless buying for cotton from millers and exporters pushed phutti prices to Rs3,000 per 40kg for quality premium in Punjab and Rs2,650 in Sindh.

There were rumours in the market that crop situation is not encouraging and it could be even lesser than what is being anticipated by the government and a huge quantity would have to be imported to meet the domestic demand.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were steady at overnight level.

The world cotton markets also firmed up where New York cotton marker recovered for all the future contracts.

The following major deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 1600 bales from Sanghar done at Rs4775, 1200 bales Tando Adam at Rs4775, 1000 bales fom Shahdadpur at Rs4800 to Rs4850, 1800 bales Nawabshah at Rs4900 to Rs5000, 2000 bales Khairpur at Rs5100 to Rs5150, 2000 bales upper Sindh at Rs5100 to Rs5150, 1000 bales Haroonabad at Rs5100 to Rs5200, 400 bales Muhammad Pur Dewan at Rs5250, 400 bales Rajanpur at Rs5250, 600 bales Mianwali at Rs5200 to Rs5250 and 600 bales Layyah at Rs5200.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2015

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