KARACHI: A mad rush of buying was witnessed on the cotton market on Tuesday as buyers got hold of maximum lint quantity, regardless of its quality.

This once again pushed cotton prices to a seasonal peak of Rs7,100 per maund.

Buyers initially chased limited quantity of quality cotton but soon realised that under the developing scenario lint imports after rupee devaluation will become costlier.

The buyers were also not optimistic about imports of cotton from India since a large-scale pest attack has drastically slashed the crop size.

Above all, cotton brokers said the delay in allowing cotton imports from India has minimised the possibility of getting quality cotton because much of the high grade cotton would had been lifted by end of this month by Indian textile mills or exported.

The surge in cotton prices also had its implication over phutti (seed cotton) as both Sindh and Punjab qualities were quoted in the range of Rs2,800 to Rs3,400 per maund.

It is being estimated that cotton crop size would be around 11.5 million bales but lint quality is a major concern for the textile industry which still needs around 3m bales to meet the shortfall, brokers said.

The KCA spot rates were also revised upwards by Rs100 to Rs6,700 per maund.

The following major deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 2,000 bales, Khairpur, at Rs6,500 to Rs6550; 1,000 bales, Saleh Pat, at Rs6,650 to Rs6,800; 1,400 bales, Rohri, at Rs6,650 to Rs6,700; 1,000 bales, Daharki, at Rs7,050 to Rs7,100; 1,800 bales, Ghotki, at Rs7,050 to Rs7,100; 600 bales, Mirpur Mathelo, at Rs7,050 to Rs7,100; 1,200 bales, Khairpur, at Rs6,500; 5,000 bales, Khanpur Maher, at Rs7,050; 3,200 bales, Rahimyar Khan, at Rs7,000 to Rs7,100; 2,200 bales, Sadiqabad, at Rs7,000 to Rs7,100; 1,000 bales, Kot Sabzal, at Rs7,100; 2,600 bales, Ahmedpur East, at Rs7,000; 1,000 bales, Dera Ghazi Khan, at Rs6,900; 2,800 bales, Bahawalpur, at Rs6,300 to Rs6,600; 2,600 bales, Faqirwali, at Rs6,450 to Rs6,475; 1,800 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs6,400 to Rs6,500; and 1,800 bales, Mianwali, at Rs6,350 to Rs6,675.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2017