Trading activity came down on the cotton market on Saturday owing to lack of smooth supply of best quality, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs8800, they added. In ready session, over 2000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs8300-9000, they said.

Rate of seed cotton per 40kg in Sindh low quality was at Rs2800, while the best quality was available at Rs4200, and in the Punjab prices were at Rs3000-4500, they said.

In Sindh, Binola prices per maund were at Rs1400-1800, in Punjab rates were at Rs1650-1800, they said and added that polyester fibre was available at Rs179 per kg.

Market sources said that spinners were in the market but did not take interest in buying of cotton due to quality factor. Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that the buyers remained focused on quality cotton and some leading textile spinners group managed to achieve hold of big lot deals of quality lint.

The buyers were facing acute shortage of quality cotton as country had missed production target because of non-favourable weather and non-availability of irrigation water, other brokers said.

Reports showing that Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) estimated the local crop at 9.451 million bales as against the set production target of 12 million bales.

Adds Reuters: ICE cotton futures were mostly unchanged on Friday, buoyed by optimism around a US-Sino trade deal and a weaker dollar that overshadowed a dismal export sales report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Cotton contracts for March rose 0.02 cent, or 0.03%, to 68.72 cents per lb by 12:50 p.m. EST (1750 GMT).

Total futures market volume fell by 4,317 to 16,417 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 1,038 to 215,079 contracts in the previous session.

The following deals reported: 400 bales of cotton from Mirpur Mathelo at Rs8975, 400 bales from Panu Aqil at Rs8950, 600 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs8500, 400 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs9000 and 200 bales from Kassowal at Rs8300, they said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019