KARACHI: Strong buying by one of the leading exporters helped cotton market stay steady on Friday where spinners also kept looking for quality lint which is now running in short supply.

Floor brokers said a local representative of a world cotton trader was seen actively purchasing every lot that came for offer from ginners.

The high lint prices in the world market are suggested to be the main factor for sudden involvement of exporters at a large scale, brokers added.

The higher export figures released by US Agriculture Department for cotton stabilised prices in the world market. The Indian market is also reported to be firm on strong domestic demand.

The brokers are eagerly awaiting for the fortnightly phutti (seed cotton) arrival figures and there are strong apprehensions that unsold stocks held by ginners would be much less. This would mean that spinners have purchased larger quantity of cotton this season so far.

The Karachi Cotton Association’s (KCA) spot rates remained unchanged.

Major deals finalised on rea­dy counter were: 1,100 bales Nooriabad at Rs4,400, 800 ba­­les Haroonabad at Rs4,750 to Rs4,850, 600 bales Fort Ab­bas at Rs4,850, 1,000 bales Faqi­rwali at Rs4,850 to Rs4,900, 600 bales Shujabad at Rs4,900, 600 bales Layyah at Rs5,100, 800 bales Yazman Mandi at Rs5,100, 1,000 bales Sadiqabad at Rs5,150 to Rs­5,200 and 1,000 bales Alipur at Rs5,200.

The following are Friday’s new crop Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) official spot rates for local dealings in Pak rupees for base grade 3 staple length 1-1/16” micronair value between 3.8 to 4.9 NCL.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2015

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