KARACHI: Sustained buying orders from textile mills kept the cotton market steady on Monday. Increased flow of phutti (seed cotton) with improved quality attracted buying at large scale.

Though the prospects of good crop have brightened, prices generally remained under pressure. However, there was no immediate impact on current price line which stood steady at week-end level, brokers said.

Market sources said the ongoing spell of rains with no signs of pest attack so far is encouraging and will help the country reach a crop size of around 11 to 12 million bales.

Cotton prices started to stabilise as flow of phutti improved, leading to a balance between demand and supply.

Sindh variety cotton was quoted between Rs8,050 to Rs8,100 per maund while Punjab quality stood in the range of Rs 8,200 to Rs8,350 per maund.

Similarly, phutti coming from Sindh is fetching price of Rs3,600 to Rs3,650 per 40kg while Punjab variety was available for Rs3,500 to R3,800 per 40 kg. However, Balochistan phutti of good quality is being quoted at Rs3,700 to Rs3,800 per 40kg.

However, the cotton yarn market was under pressure due to slow demand from the value added textile sector. Contrary to this polyester yarn prices moved higher by Rs7 per kg to Rs192 per kg. Blended cotton yarn (PC) yarn also rose by Rs2.3 per kg.

The world leading cotton markets were steady with New York cotton at overnight level. Chinese cotton was also steady but Indian cotton closed with fresh gains on higher demand from China.

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: 1,200 bales, station Mirpur­khas, at Rs8,050-8100; 2,000 bales, Sanghar, at Rs8,025-8100; 4,000 bales, Tando Adam, at Rs8,075-8,125; 2,000 bales, Shahdadpur, at Rs8,075-8,125; 1,000 bales, Nawabshah, at Rs8,100; 1,000 bales, Hyderabad, at Rs8,050-8,100; 600 bales, Chichawatni, at Rs8,300-8,350; 600 bales, Haroon­abad, at Rs8,375-8,450; 400 bales, Gojra, at Rs8,300-8,350; 400 bales, Vehari, at Rs8,275-8,375; 400 bales, Samundri, at Rs8,400; and 200 bales, Khanewal, at Rs8,400.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2018