KARACHI: The cotton market witness frenzied buying from textile industry on Tuesday, allowing trading volume to reach a historic high of 40,000 bales in a single day

Spinners booked quality, big lots in order to build up inventories while price line also remained firm on steady flow of buying orders.

Higher arrival of phutti (seed cotton) did not impact cotton prices which hovered around Rs100 to Rs150 above official rates.

According to market reports, quality issues continue to haunt spinners who feared that there could be sudden shortage of good cotton in the market. Buyers went for quality cotton which helped prices to stay stable.

Phutti prices remained steady in the range of Rs2,800-3,100 for Sindh quality and between Rs2,900-3,150 per 40kg for Punjab quality.

Though the flow of phutti has also touched its peak level but so far there is no official version on cotton quality.

The world leading cotton markets, however, closed easy under the lead of New York cotton due to lower US dollar rate against other currencies.

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

The following major deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 1,600 bales, Daharki, at Rs6,200 to Rs6,300; 1,000 bales, Ghotki, at Rs6,250; 1,400 bales, Rohri, at Rs6,150 to Rs6,200; 1,000 bales, Saleh Pat, at Rs6,150 to Rs6,200; 2,000 bales, Khairpur, at Rs6,150; 1,400 bales, Liaquatpur, at Rs6,250; 800 bales, Rahimyar Khan, at Rs6,250; 2,200 bales, Rajan Pur, at Rs6,250; 1,600 bales, Ahmed Pur, at Rs6,150 to Rs6,250; 800 bales, Ali Pur, at Rs6,175 to Rs6,250; 1,000 bales, Vehari, at Rs6,100 to Rs6,150; 3,800 bales, Khanewal, at Rs6,075 to Rs6,150; 1,600 bales, Chichawatni, at Rs6,075 to Rs6,150; 4,800 bales, Bahawalpur, at Rs6,100 to Rs6,125; 1,400 bales, Chishtian, at Rs6,085 to Rs6,125; 3,000 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs6,050 to Rs6,125; 1,600 bales, Faqirwali, at Rs6,060 to Rs6,100; 1,400 bales, Fort Abbas, at Rs6,075; and 1,800 bales, Dera Ghazi Khan, at Rs6,125 to Rs6,250.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2017