KARACHI: Strong buying was witnessed on the cotton market on Monday as spinners preferred to get quality lint and willingly paid premium price for Sindh variety.

This is the second time in the season that prices have crossed above the Rs7,000 mark to reach Rs7,050 per maund. However, activity remained restricted due to short supply of quality lint.

The rupee-dollar parity is going to impact cotton imports which will become costlier in case the rupee value declines against dollar.

This was a cause of concern for the textile industry because a huge quantity of around 3 million bales is expected to be imported.

Meanwhile, the downpour on Monday in Punjab would be beneficial for wheat crop but would be harmful for the cotton where picking has yet to finish. However, reports suggested that most of the crop has been picked.

There is growing concern amongst spinners that late approval for import of cotton from India would not help because by end of this month much of quality cotton would have been lifted by Indian textile industry or exported. The world leading cotton markets gave mixed trend with Indian cotton closing steady but the New York and Chinese cotton markets were under pressure.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) kept its spot rates steady at weekend level.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on the ready counter: 800 bales, Ghotki, at Rs7,050; 400 bales, Daharki, at Rs7,050; 400 bales, Mir­pur Mathelo, at Rs7,050; 2,000 bales, Rohri, at Rs6,500 to Rs6,700; 1,600 bales, Saleh Pat, at Rs6,550 to Rs6,750; 2,200 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs6,450; 2,400 bales, Rahim­yar Khan, at Rs6,875 to Rs7,000; 600 bales, Khane­wal, at Rs6,300; 1,200 bales, Mianwali, at Rs6,300; and 1,000 bales, Layyah, at Rs6,300.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2017