Prices maintained firmness at cotton market on Thursday with demand for fine quality from active mills. According to some brokers, supply position is still tight, causing a rise in the rates. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 4,650. In Sindh, seed cotton prices also remained unchanged at Rs 2450 and Rs 2550 and in Punjab rates were at Rs 2350 and Rs 2550.

Cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) offered tender to cotton but failed to get any desired expectations. He further said that trading activity may decline slightly due to pause in phutti arrivals. Mills preferred to be sidelined instead of purchasing inferior variety of seed cotton.

In the ready business, over 10,000 bales of cotton changed hands between Rs 4700 and Rs 4800, dealers said.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands: 200 bales of cotton from Golarchi at Rs 4700, 1600 bales from Sanghar at Rs 4725-4750, 200 bales from Matli at Rs 4750, 1000 bales from Tando Adam, same figure from Shahdadpur, same number from Mirpurkhas all done at the same rate, 400 bales from Shor Kot, 200 bales from Haroonabad same number from Jhang all finalised at Rs 4700, same number from Mongi Bangla at Rs 4725, same figure from Kabirwala at the same price, 600 bales from Gojra at Rs 4725-4750, 600 bales from Khanewal at the same rate, 200 bales from Bahawal Nagar at Rs 4750, same figure from Hasilpur, same numbr from Shahir Sultan, 100 bales from Burewala at the same rate and 200 bales from Mian Chano at Rs 4800.

On global front, the China Cotton Association (CCA) had previously predicted a crop of 5.86 million tonnes for the harvest beginning in October. Reports showing that China is expected to produce 5.5 million tonnes of the fibre in the upcoming season, slightly below an earlier forecast but not a large enough drop to boost imports.

While on the other hand ICE cotton futures dropped for the first time in six sessions on Wednesday, after a five-day rally following the release of a bullish US government crop forecast, as producers saw price levels near 5-1/2 week highs as a good selling opportunity.