As the day progressed trading activity kept rising on strong demand and flow of buying orders from spinners and exporters kept cotton prices firm on Wednesday. Pakistan is expected to be one of the few countries in the world where cotton consumption would rise this year.

Cotton picking has started in most cotton producing districts of Punjab while many ginning units have also stated their operations. In coming days there is a possibility that higher arrival of phutti (seed cotton) could put cotton prices under pressure.

In lower Sindh, where cotton picking started in June this year, many ginning units have started to shutdown because very little phutti has been left behind in the fields.

Higher cotton production has been predicted as more area came under cotton cultivation this year after growers in most cotton growing countries including Pak¬istan received good price last season for the commodity

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were unchanged at overnight level.

The following major deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 800 bales, Shah¬dadpur, at Rs5,675 to Rs5,900; 800 bales, Tando Adam, at Rs5,750 to Rs5,900; 3,000 bales, Khairpur, at Rs6,075 to Rs6,100; 3,000 bales, Haroonabad, at Rs6,050 to Rs6,075; 1,000 bales, Bhakkar, at Rs6,075 to Rs6,100; 800 bales, Hasilpur, at Rs6,075 to Rs6,100; 1,000 bales, Layyah, at Rs6,100 to Rs6,125; 1,000 bales, Baha¬walpur, at Rs6,125; 1,600 bales, Mianwali, at Rs6,100 to Rs6,150; 1,000 bales, Kha¬n¬pur, at Rs6,150 to Rs6,175; and 600 bales, Alipur, at Rs6,150.

According to Inter¬national Cotton Assessment Committee (ICAC), the world cotton production has been estimated at around 25.4 million tonnes as against 23m tonnes produced last year. Overall cotton production in the world is expected to rise by around 10 per cent this season.

The world cotton consumption is also expected to increase by 2.7 per cent at 25.2m tonnes, with India, Pakistan, Turkey, Brazil and Bangladesh becoming consumers. US would be the highest exporter and Bangladesh would be the biggest importer of cotton.