KARACHI: Steady flow of phutti (seed cotton) from Sindh cotton fields helped trading activity to expand on Saturday amid sustained demand from leading spinners and some exporters.

Lint prices also remained steady. However, the underlying sentiment remained weak owing to ongoing protests by different segments of textile industry against the imposition of sales tax.

The cotton crop in lower Sindh is reported to be satisfactory with no major issue. However, the concerned provincial department has so far not issued details about damage that was caused by recent locust attack on cotton crop.

Meanwhile, phutti arrival in Punjab is also improving on each passing day but some reports suggested that there are signs of pest attack in cotton growing areas of lower Punjab.

It was interesting to note that partial phutti arrival also started in Balochistan where couple of ginning units has also started operating, with the commodity being quoted between Rs4,100-4,200 per 40 kg.

The world leading cotton markets generally closed easy with New York cotton losing fresh ground on lesser exports during out going week. The Chinese market remained mixed. However, cotton prices in India remained under pressure despite the fact that the crop is short by around 55 lakh bales at 30.65 million bales.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were steady at overnight level at Rs8,300 per maund.

The following deals were reported to have transpired on ready counter: 400 bales, station Shahdadpur, at Rs8,375; 1,000 bales, Tando Adam, at Rs8,375-8,400; 800 bales, Mirpurkhas, at Rs8,375; 800 bales, Sanghar, at Rs8,350; 200 bales, Shahpur Chakar, at Rs8,325; 400 bales, Kotri, at Rs8,375; 400 bales, Hyderabad, at Rs8,375; and 200 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs8,600.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2019