KARACHI: Amid sustained buying, cotton prices remained on the higher side on Saturday. Much of the trading interest has shifted towards Punjab crop which is now available in abundance. Rates for the commodity in local market are higher than world cotton prices.

Ever since the admission of short crop at the official level, the market is in panic mode with buyers striving hard to get hold of maximum quantity of lint.

According to market analyst Naseem Usman, quantity and quality issues mar local cotton.

With a huge gap of around 5 million bales, many textile spinning mills, which having no facility of remission on duty and taxes, are seen active on the market, he added. However, big textile spinning groups continue to focus on import of cotton.

Due to higher lint prices on ready trading, the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were also revised upwards by Rs50 to Rs8,800 per maund.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 1,200 bales, station Khairpur, at Rs8,700-8,750; 1,000 bales, Ghotki, at Rs8,900-9,000; 1,200 bales, Mirpur Mathelo, at Rs8,950-9,000; 3,600 bales, Rahim Yar Khan, at Rs 8,950-9,000; 800 bales, Mianwali, at Rs9,000; 400 bales, Ghazi Ghat, at Rs9,000; 1,200 bales, Yazman Mandi, at Rs8,900-8,950; 1,000 bales, Dera Ghazi Khan, at Rs8,900; 800 bales, Hasilpur, at Rs8,850-8,900; and 800 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs8,800-8,950.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2019