KARACHI: A festive mood prevailed on the cotton market when trading resumed on Tuesday after Eidul Azha holidays, however activity remained poor due to thin attendance of traders.
Phutti (seed cotton) arrival has yet to resume and as a result most ginning units in Sindh and Punjab could not operate. However,cotton prices remained steady as there was demand and according to brokers around 4,000 to 5,000 bales were finalised at the rate ranging from Rs6,000 to Rs6,075 per maund.
It would take a few days before normal trading resumes on the market with improved flow of phutti from cotton fields into ginneries, traders said.
According to International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), cottonconsumption for 2017-18 would be 2 per cent higher at 25.1 million tonnes over the last season (2016-17) when it rose by 1pc at 24.5m tonnes.
Meanwhile, the Indian government, seeing good results, has extended its cotton policy by another year.
The policy was ending on Sept 3, 2017.
The world`s leading cottonmarkets remained firm but New York cotton closed higher on fear of another hurricane hitting US state of Florida. Hurricane Harvey has already made extensive damage in Texas which is largest cotton growing state in America.
