KARACHI: Trading declined further on Thursday as textile spinners stayed on the sidelines due to lack of liquidity. Acute shortage of quality cotton also resulted in reduced activity.

Although cotton prices have started to stabilise but trading activity could not improve as little interest was shown by buyers. Currently, the textile industry is awaiting payment of outstanding refund claims against sales tax.

Meanwhile, private sector estimates suggest that cotton production would be much less than 9 million bales. This means that more than 6m bales would have to be imported to meet the demand, brokers said.

The world leading cotton markets were mix. Chinese cotton went up while New York cotton gave a mixed trend. Indian cotton moved down.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were steady at overnight level at Rs9,100 per maund.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 1,600 bales, station Khairpur, at Rs8,600-8,800; 4,800 bales, Rahim Yar Khan, at Rs9,200-9,250; 1,000 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs9,000; 1,200 bales, Yazman Mandi, at Rs8,900-8,950; 800 bales, Bahawalpur, at Rs8,900.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2019