In the process of restricted buying by mills and spinners, cotton rates were firm at the cotton market on Friday, as per dealers. The official spot rate remained unchanged at Rs 6300. In Sindh, seed cotton prices were unmoved at Rs 2800-3350 while in Punjab, phutti rates held the overnight levels at Rs 2800 and Rs 3550, as per 40 kg.

According to cotton analyst, Naseem Usman, rates of cotton were up amid tight supply of best quality. Provincial Agriculture Minister of Punjab, Dr Farrukh Javed talking to Naseem Usman said that to achieve better production, the cotton growers should refrain from early sowing, the farmers would have to wait for April 15 for new sowing.

Other analysts said that phutti arrivals came down and variety is not so good, so some needy mills and spinners entered the trading ring to meet their demand.

The positive development is that after a long gap of time, the yarn is in demand, which may bring some relief for the traders, other experts said.

According to private sector estimate, country may achieve 10.54 million bales of cotton, which is not enough for total consumption. They also observed that the trading activity revived due to Heimtextil fair, the biggest trade exhibition of textile products.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands as per dealers: 600 bales from Dharki at Rs 6600/6700, 400 bales from Mianwali at Rs 6100, 600 bales from Pir Mehal at Rs 6300, 400 bales from Haroonabad at Rs 6400, 400 bales from Bhawalpur at Rs 6425, 200 bales from Chistian at Rs 6450, 1400 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs 6450/6565, 1000 bales from Rahim Yar Khan at Rs 6550 and 2600 bales from Khanpur at Rs 6650/6675.

In the ready session, around 10,000 bales of cotton between Rs. 6100-6700 changed hands.