KARACHI: Trading activity on the cotton market remained slow on Monday, however cotton prices were steady in the midst of short supply of quality lint.

Although many exporters of home textiles who participated in the recently concluded Heimtextil, Frankfurt trade fair returned with good number of orders from European, US and Middle Eastern buyers but this did not reflect in cotton trade.

A major issue currently is the short supply of quality lint with rising demand from textile industry.

Import prospects are also diminishing because India itself is faced with short crop while global cotton prices have also risen considerably.

Indian cotton exporters have cancelled international orders of 0.4 million bales already. Now there are fears that out of the 0.5m bales ordered by Pakistani importers last year, 0.2m bales would be cancelled.

The rising trend witnessed last week in world leading cotton markets was no more evident on Monday. Both Chinese and Indian cotton closed easy while New York cotton remained close on account of public holiday.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were firm at week-end level.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 9,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan, at Rs8,000 to Rs8,075; 4,000 bales, Sadiqabad, at Rs7,900; 400 bales, Khanewal, at Rs7,600; 600 bales, Garamore, at Rs7,000; 400 bales, Maroot, at Rs6,800; and 400 bales, Fort Abbas, at Rs6,800.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2018