KARACHI: The cotton market gave listless conditions on Monday as buyers and sellers generally stayed away from the proceedings. The acute shortage of quality cotton and higher imports depressed sentiment.

Another reason for thin trading was partial closure of trading houses due to Shab-i-Barat. After failing to convince the government to allow over and above the officially fixed ceiling of 500,000 bales from India, spinners explored West African countries and booked around 60,000 tonnes of cotton.

Meanwhile, Punjab Minister for Agriculture Food Security Dr Furrakh Javed has suggested to the government to give subsidy on fertiliser to cotton growers to bring down the input cost.

There are reports that growers have so far brought lesser area under cotton cultivation so far and if the situation continues the country may face cotton shortage for another year. A couple of deals were reported to have transpired late in the evening but were not official reported. The Karachi Cotton Association left its spot rates unchanged.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2016