Cotton prices higher on strong demand

Prices moved higher on the cotton market on Saturday as mills showed interest in buying of fine quality to replenish their stock, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 8750, they added. In ready session, over 9,000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 7850-9300, they said.

Rate of seed cotton per 40kg in Sindh low quality was at Rs 3000, while the best quality was available at Rs 4050, and in the Punjab prices were at Rs 3200-4100, they said.

In Balochistan, seed cotton price of inferior type was at Rs 3600, however, fine quality was at Rs 4200, they said.

In Sindh, Binola prices per maund were at Rs 1400-1700, in Punjab and Balochistan rates were at Rs 1500-1600, they said and adding that polyester fibre was available at Rs 179 per kg.

Market sources said that mills were active buyers, laying hands over the best quality cotton to meet their demand.

Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that the general optimism in the world market influenced local trading where local buyers were trying to buy as much as they can. The US-China accord likely to push the rates higher in the near future so that the ginners keen to make profit and increasing rates of quality cotton, he observed.

Adds Reuters: Cotton futures fell on Friday, as lack of clarity about progress on a US-China trade deal weighed on investor sentiment, while the Democrats' latest impeachment move against President Donald Trump further added to the uncertainty in the market.

Cotton contracts for March fell 0.46 cent, or 0.68%, at 66.71 cents per lb by 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT), trading within a range of 66.43 and 67.8 cents a lb.

Total futures market volume fell by 6,461 to 39,065 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 5,627 to 200,691 contracts in the previous session.

The following deals reported: 400 bales of cotton from Mirpur Mathelo at Rs 8800, 1400 bales from Saleh Pat at Rs 8200/8300, 3000 bales from Khairpur at Rs 7850/8200, 1000 bales from Sadiqabad at Rs9300, (SEED) 1200 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 8900/9300, 1200 bales from Khanpur at Rs 8850/8900 and 200 bales from Hasilpur at Rs 8300, they said.