KARACHI: The cotton market failed to overcome general lethargy on Wednesday as leading buyers kept to the sidelines amid uncertain outlook.

Barring a few deals finalised by some small spinners, the trading activity re­­mained lacklustre. Slow demand for cotton yarn and grey cloth from the value-added textile sector discouraged spinners from further adding lint to their inventory.

There are strong indications that the current cotton season could be shorter than normal as very little phutti (seed cotton) has been left behind in the fields. So far around 11.5 million bales have been produced and at max it will be about 11.6m bales, brokers said.

The entire textile industry is currently under crisis as the flood of cotton yarn and grey fabric smuggled from China and India is harming the industry and no measures have been taken by the government to safeguard Pakistan’s largest industrial sector, said Mr Naqi Bari, a leading exporter of home textiles.

The world leading cotton markets also remained under pressure with New York cotton and Indian markets losing more ground while the Chinese market was mixed. Surprisingly, Indian cotton slipped further down despite the fact that new crop estimates have been lowered further.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates remained firm at the overnight level.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 5,100 bales, Daharki, at Rs7,000; 400 bales, Khanpur, at Rs7,000; 200 bales, Alipur, at Rs6,600; and 2,400 bales, Khanewal, at Rs6,550.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2018