KARACHI: Renewed buying interest from spinners on Tuesday helped cotton prices recover from lower levels hit during the last four-day downtrend.

Floor brokers said that many spinners rushed back to replenish their stocks but ginners obliged them at higher prices. The phutti (seed-cotton) supply from Sindh was normal easily meeting the market demand.

On the other hand, phutti flow from Punjab was still slow and quality of cotton was not satisfactory. There are complaints that the cotton was carrying some yellow spot which indicate pest attack in some cotton growing areas of the province.

Meanwhile, reports coming from across the border suggest that there is a pest attack of pink ball on cotton crop in the Gujrat state of India.

The US Agriculture Depart-ment had already warned of short crop and high consumption the world over this season.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) revised upwards its spot rates by Rs50 to Rs5,250 per maund.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on the ready counter: 1,200 bales, Mirpurkhas, at Rs6,450 to Rs6,500, 1,000 bales, Shahdadpur, at Rs6,450 to Rs6,500, 1,000 bales, Tando Adam, at Rs6,450 to Rs6,500, 1,200 bales, Sanghar, at Rs6,450 to Rs6,500, 800 bales, Hala, at Rs6,450 to Rs6,500, 600 bales, Kotri, at Rs6,500, 600 bales, Hyderabad, at Rs6,500, 400 bales, Khanwala, at Rs6,700 and 200 bales, Chichawatni, at Rs6,700.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2016