KARACHI: Cotton prices remained steady on Tuesday amid slow demand from spinners. Ginners also seemed to be in no hurry to sell their stocks, brokers said.

Reports coming from Sindh cotton fields suggest that flow of water to lower part of the province has improved and the provincial government has also imposed a ban on sugarcane cultivation in district Sanghar.

Similarly, the Punjab government is also taking measures to increase area under cotton cultivation. Steps have been taken to convert sugarcane area in district Rahimyar Khan back for cotton cultivation, they added.

The Punjab government is also educating growers how to save their crop from cotton leaf curl virus, whitefly and other pest attacks.

Cotton analyst Naseem Usman said the steps being taken by both the provincial governments are encouraging and raised hopes that the next cotton crop would be higher.

The Karachi Cotton Association kept its spot rates unchanged. Major deals on the ready counter were: 500 bales from Samundri at Rs6,400 per maund (around 37 kilograms) and 600 bales from Rahimyar Khan at Rs7,000.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2017