Cotton price steady
KARACHI: Cotton prices remained under pressure on Thursday owing to select buying from spinners amid sluggish demand on domestic and world markets.
Though trading resumed on overnight easy note, it recovered slightly by mid-day to close easy on slower cotton demand from spinners and exporters, brokers said.
It also impacted phutti (seed cotton) prices which are currently being quoted at Rs2,500 to Rs3,050 per 40 kilograms for Sindh variety and Rs2,800 to Rs3,100 for Punjab quality. The world cotton markets gave mixed trend with New York recovering from last two days’ decline and Indian cotton markets moving lower ahead of Diwali festival and higher phutti (seed cotton) arrivals, they added.
The Indian cotton on higher arrivals of phutti is currently under tremendous pressure and is being quoted at around Rs37,000 per candy (356kg) against Rs50,000 at the start of the season.
According to reports, Indian exporters are keen to export cotton to Pakistan and made offers at much lower rates to attract Pakistani importers. As per details, they are offering cotton at 71 US cents per lb against prevailing prices of 74-75 cents on the domestic market.
Cotton broker Naseem Usman said that if Pakistani spinners start booking cotton imports from India, it would not reach before December, 2016. The Karachi Cotton Association left its spot rate unchanged.