At the Karachi Cotton Exchange, trading activity remain dull on Wednesday as buyers remained selective on grade issue during trading at lint market while prices remained firm, fibre traders said.

The spot rates remained unchanged at Rs6,700/maund (37.324kg) and Rs7,180/40kg. Ex-Karachi rates also stood firm at Rs6,835/maund and Rs7,325/40kg after an addition of Rs135 and Rs145 as upcountry expenses, respectively.

Cotton crop production targets during the season were fixed at 14.40 million bales as against the production targets of 14.1 million bales of last year.

During the trading session, buyers in Sindh and Punjab stations purchased lint on cautious note on grade issue while sellers offered all grades of lint at around Rs 6,000 per maund to Rs 6,675 per maund in order to capitalise maximum returns on their proceeds, floor brokers said.

Buyer remained cautious in making any big deal as they only made deals according to their immediate need of lint on back of grade issue and in anticipation of decline in spot rate, they added.

According to an analyst, textile industry’s condition is vulnerable because of nonpayment of refunds worth billions of rupees by the government. Apart from this the textile market is badly affected due to illegal dumping of cloth by India.

Around 18 containers of Indian cloth coming via Dubai were seized by the authorities, while over 100 containers have landed safely.

Pakistan has registered export orders of 135,261 bales of 2015/16 and 2016/17 crops from August 1, 2016 till April 15, 2017, whereas a total of 115,116 bales have been shipped during this period.

The textile sector is importing better and second grade lint as it has to accomplish exports orders under Generalised System of Preferences plus status while the local stuff would be on valuation.