KARACHI: Cotton prices remained firm at overnight level on Wednesday but buying interest declined owing to restricted supply of the commodity.

Addressing the meeting PCGA Chairman Mian Mohammad Mahmood said that ginners will keep their ginning operations suspended till such time the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) withdraws the coercive SRO.

A steep fall in New York cotton prices (by up to US 1.5 cents per lb) as well as in Indian and Chinese markets impacted the local trading.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Cotton Ginners’ Association (PCGA) in its general body meeting held on Tuesday decided to suspend their phutti buying operations from Thursday as a mark of protest against a tax imposed under SRO188.

According to market sources, picking of phutti (seed-cotton) in Sindh — which is mostly done by Hindu women — has been temporarily suspended due to Diwali holidays. As a result there is shortage of quality cotton which forced spinners to stay away.

Although prices on ready counter remained firm but official spot rates were cut down by Rs50 to Rs8,800 per maund.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 1,000 bales, station Khairpur Mirs, at Rs8,700-8,800; 800 bales, Rohri, at Rs8,850-8,900; 1,000 bales, Daharki, at Rs9,150; 1,000 bales, Ghotki, at Rs9,150; 2,000 bales, Rahim Yar Khan, at Rs9,050-9,100; 1,000 bales, Sadiqabad, at Rs9,050-9,100; 2,000 bales, Khanpur, at Rs9,050; 1,000 bales, Yazman, at Rs8,750; 1,200 bales, Fort Abbas, at Rs8,750; 1,200 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs8,600-8,700; and 600 bales, Ahmedpur East, at Rs8,800.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2018