KARACHI: Lacklustre conditions prevailed on the cotton market on Monday as leading buyers were conspicuous by their absence. The undertone continued to be easy and outlook uncertain.

A general lethargy was witnessed as the trading activity dwindled to rock bottom.

However, leading spinners were reported to have engaged themselves with imports after the government’s decision to allow duty-free cotton imports.

Some market analysts fear that due to poor and medium quality cotton the textile spinners now prefer to meet their demand with imported cotton which is not only cheaper but also better in quality.

However, the ginners are currently in a distressed situation because they are holding huge unsold cotton stocks and after allowing duty-free import of cotton they may not be able to dispose off the stocks.

On the global front, the Indian cotton production estimates were further lowered to 32-33 million local bales, while US cotton, like other markets, faced slowdown as a result of the government shutdown.

Meanwhile, China is also applying various measures to stimulate economy and Chinese vice premier is expected to visit the US on Jan 30, to give a boost to markets.

The current cotton season is expected to close much earlier as the crop size remained the lowest in the recent history of the country and it could be said that last picking is going on.

The KCA spot rates were unchanged at weekend level.

Officially no transaction was reported to have changed hands on the ready counter.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2019