KARACHI: Steady conditions prevailed on the cotton market on Friday though activity shrank due to short supply of cotton and slow off take of yarn in domestic market.

Slow trading did not have much impact on the price line as many big spinning groups are reportedly shifting to imports to meet their cotton demand.

There was shortage of cotton as picking in Sindh – which is mostly done by Hindu women – remained suspended owing to Diwali holidays.

Meanwhile, ginners have also stopped lifting phutti (seed cotton) as a mark of protest against SRO 188 imposing tax on cottonseed cake. The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association has demanded that the Federal Board of Revenue should withdraw the said SRO and suspended the tax.

Demand for cotton yarn from value-added sector has dropped and many spinning mills are confronted with huge unsold stocks of yarn and liquidity crunch, brokers said.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, the global cotton stocks are down by 1.84 million bales to 72.61m bales – mainly due to fall in cotton production in the US, India, and Pakistan.

Official spot rates were raised by Rs100 to Rs8,900 per maund but most of the deals on ready counter mostly transpired at overnight level.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 400 bales, station Nawabshah, at Rs8,450; 400 bales, Sakrand, at Rs8,450; 600 bales, Khairpur, at Rs8,750-8,800; 600 bales, Ghotki, at Rs9,150; 400 bales, Rohri, at Rs8,800; 400 bales, Rahim Yar Khan, at Rs9,100; 600 bales, Sadiqabad, at Rs9,100; 600 bales, Liaquatpur, at Rs9,100; 200 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs8,600-8,900; 1,200 bales, Ahmedpur East, at Rs8,800; 400 bales, Bahawalpur, at Rs8,800; 600 bales, Yazman, at Rs8,800; and 400 bales, Shujabad, at Rs8,750.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018