KARACHI: Steady flow of buying orders from needy spinners on Saturday pushed cotton prices higher. The dwindling stocks of cotton with ginners induced re­­newed buying, brokers said.

According to market sources, ginners are currently holding around 100,000 bales from current crop and the industry will have to wait till June 15 when partial arrival of new crop is expected to start.

It is being estimated that partial operation by ginning factories in Sindh would start in June and some cotton could also reach Punjab where a couple of units will also start their operations.

The stakeholders in cotton trade, including ginners and brokers, welcomed a suggestion made by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in his budget speech that hedge trading in cotton would be allowed.

Cotton analyst Naseem Usman told Dawn that hedge trading in cotton should be handled by Karachi Cotton Association which has the experience and infrastructure of operating future trading.

The Karachi Cotton Asso­cia­­tion increased its spot rates by Rs100 to Rs6,850 a maund (around 37 kilograms).

Major deals on the ready counter were: 670 bales from Multan at Rs6,900 a maund, 400 bales from Noorpur Nauranga at Rs6,965, 400 bales from Yazman Mandi at Rs7,000, and 1,000 bales from Vehari at Rs7,090.

The world’s leading cotton markets gave mixed trend with near contracts on the New York market making nominal gains and far-off contracts closing easy.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2017