KARACHI: Routine trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Friday as spinners restricted purchases to meet their immediate needs only.The cotton trade is deeply affected by the ongoing protests and sit-ins across the country. The movement of goods has come to a standstill while the industry is running short of raw materials and is unable to fulfil export commitments.

Ginners have also stopped operations fearing piling up of cotton bales. Consequently, there was not much difference in lint prices — on the ready counter and official spot rates — which mostly remained pegged at overnight level.

The world leading cotton markets gave mixed trend. New York cotton recovered part of recent losses while Indian and Chinese markets closed easy.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were firm at overnight level at Rs8,650 per maund.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 1,200 bales, Shahdadpur, at Rs8,200-8,400; 400 bales, Tando Adam, at Rs8,400; 600 bales, Rohri, at Rs87,00; 1,200 bales, Saleh pat, at Rs8,750-8,800; 1,600 bales, Rahim Yar Khan, at Rs8,850-8,900; 1,200 bales, Sadiqabad, at Rs8,900; 1,000 bales, Khanpur, at Rs8,900; 400 bales, Bahawalpur, at Rs8,600-8,650; 600 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs8,500-8,550; and 600 bales, Burewala, at Rs8,300.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2018