KARACHI: Steady conditions prevailed on the cotton market on Thursday as buyers kept looking for quality lots.

At the outset, there was strong demand for quality lint from spinners who strived to build up their inventories.

However, shortage of qua­l­ity lint disappointed many.

The rising trend in world’s leading cotton markets including New York cotton psychologically impacted trading, because during last two sessions, cotton prices rose between 3 to 3.5 cents per pound.

Similarly, Indian cotton also moved higher and strong demand from textile industry and some exporters pushed prices higher by Rs200 per candy (356kg).

The Chinese cotton market opened firm after a weeklong closure on account of new lunar year.

There was some panic among spinners who are still short of cotton stocks because the current cotton season (2017-18) is fast nearing its end.

The issue of shortage is primarily related to small spinners who were unable to import cotton to meet their seasonal demand, brokers said.

According to market sources, demand for cotton yarn and grey fabric was also rising and this was encouraging for spinners who had been holding large unsold inventories of yarn.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were firm at overnight level of Rs6,900 per maund.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on the ready counter: 400 bales, Ghotki, at Rs6,250; 400 bales, Sanghar, at Rs6,200; 400 bales, Jalalpur, at Rs7,100; 1,200 bales, DG Khan, at Rs7,000; 200 bales, Bahawalpur, at Rs6,900 and 400 bales, MP Dewan, at Rs6,800.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2018