KARACHI: Cotton prices on ready trading soared to a new high of Rs9,150 per maund on Friday.

Short crop fear continues to haunt textile industry and cotton prices are likely to go up in coming days. Many mills do not have the facility of remission of duty and taxes on imports and are in panic mode as they buy locally. Mills which have remission facility on exports are focusing more on imports, brokers said.

The world leading cotton markets were mixed to firm with New York cotton continued to gain for all future contracts. Chinese and Indian cotton were mixed.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were revised upward by Rs50 to Rs8,950 per maund.

The following major deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 1,600 bales, station Rohri, at Rs8,875-9,000; 1,000 bales, Saleh Pat, at Rs8,875-9,000; 2,000 bales, Khairpur, at Rs8,850-8,900; 2,000 bales, Rahim Yar Khan, at Rs9,125-9,150; 1,000 bales, Sadiqabad, at Rs9,125-9,150; 1,000 bales, Ahmedpur East, at Rs9,000; 1,600 bales, Bahawalpur, at Rs9,000; 1,200 bales, Fort Abbas, at Rs9,050-9,100; and 1,200 bales, Yazman Mandi, at Rs9,000-9,050.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2019