MULTAN: The cotton market remained devoid of activity as buyers and sellers both took to the sidelines on Wednesday.

The Karachi Cotton Association kept its spot rates unchanged.

Experts said that ginners are interested in selling their stocks at higher prices keeping in view rising trend on the international market.

Many mill owners and importers are entering into deals with India for June and July, market sources said.

However, there are chances that the Indians could cancel the deals in case of price increase in international markets.

Some ginning factories will become functional before Eid, relying on a mix of old and new phutti (seed cotton). Around 20,000 bales of phutti are already available with the ginners from last year’s crop which was purchased between Rs2,700 to Rs3,300 per maund.

Market sources said that investors usually avoid investing during the tenure of interim government but the situation will be different this time as stability in cotton market is being predicted due to the possible import of Pakistani cotton by China and other domestic reasons.

Meanwhile, China sold 30,000 tonnes of cotton at an auction of state reserves on Wednesday, at an average price of 15,018 yuan ($2,351.15) per tonne, according to industry website.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 400 bales, Khanpur, at Rs7,450; 200 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs6,650; 200 bales, Layyah, at Rs6,400; and 200 bales, Chowk Munda, at Rs6,300.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2018