Slow trading activity seen owing to tight supply of quality lint

Thin business activity was seen as mills and spinners were disappointed owing to tight supply of best quality lint which boosted the rates as the result they were unable to make deals on the cotton market on Monday, dealers said.

The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 5000, dealers said. In the ready session, over 4,000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 4625 and Rs 5275, they said. The prices of seed cotton in Sindh were at Rs 1900 and Rs 2350 and in Punjab rates were at Rs 2000 and Rs 2650, they said.

According to cotton experts, Naseem Usman, falling trend in the world oil prices and firmness of dollar may help improving the demand by the importing countries.

The ginners who have not enough unsold stock were trying to increase rates ahead of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) fortnightly arrivals figure. But some spinners were equally cautious to enter into fresh deals due to developing economic scenario in the world market.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 800 bales from station Bahawalpur at Rs4,625 to Rs4,640, 600 bales from Khanewal at Rs4,700 to Rs5257, 800 bales from Vehari at Rs4,700 to Rs5,250, 600 bales from Maroot done at Rs4625, 400 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs5050, 400 bales from Hasilpur at Rs5,075 and 600 bales from Sadiqabad at Rs5200 to Rs5,275.

On global front, the world commodity markets, including cotton, once again came under pressure as petroleum prices have fallen back and the weakening of Euro currency against US dollar has also disturbed exports to the European Union market.