Rising demand and short supply pushes cotton prices higher on Thursday. However, there is a shortage of quality cotton which influenced some needy spinners who rushed to replenish their stocks, brokers said. The Karachi Cotton Association also raised its spot rates by Rs50 per maund.

The Karachi Cotton Association on Thursday fixed the official spot rate, or base price, for Grade 3 cotton at 7,341 rupees per maund (40 kg). Grade 3 cotton has a staple length of 1-1/16" and micronaire value between 3.8 and 4.9 NCL (no control limits), which represents fine to coarse classes of cotton varieties.

In the kerb market, the key crop varieties traded in the range of 7,075 to 7,075 rupees per maund.

According to some estimates, ginners are holding less than 150,000 bales from the current season crop and they seemed to be in a hurry to dispose of their stocks.

Cotton analyst Naseem Usman said that the cotton trade would remain slow till the arrival of next crop, cotton.

Major deals on the ready counter that changed hands were: 200 bales from Khanpur at Rs7,075 per maund (around 37 kilograms) and 200 bales from Feroza at Rs7,075.

The world’s leading cotton markets closed easy under the lead of New York cotton. The Chinese and Indian markets also closed easy.