Cotton prices saw an upward trend due to short phutti (seed cotton) supply and ginners demanding higher rates on Wednesday. Trading activity continued to remain dull and listless as spinners reluctant to pay higher prices.

Another reason which pushed cotton prices up was a large participation of Pakistani textile sector in Heimtexil fair being held from Jan 8 to 11 in Frankfurt, Germany.

They added that the expectations that 226 companies from Pakistan displaying their textile products in the fair could get large export orders are presently inducing sentiment.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) revised its spot rates upward by Rs50 to overnight level of Rs7,000 per maund. However, trading activity on ready counter continues to be slow and restricted.

The following deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 200 bales from station Rahimyar Khan at Rs7,000, 1000 bales from Fort Abbas at Rs7,000, 200 bales from Dharanwala at Rs7,040, 200 bales from Faqirwali at Rs7,040, 3,000 bales from Khanewal at Rs7,100, 800 bales from Obaro at Rs7,300 and 1,000 bales from Mianwali at Rs7,350.

The world cotton markets also remained firm where New York cotton market closed higher for all future contracts. In India cotton prices rose and during last couple of days gained around 10 cents per lb from 81-82 cent per lb to 90-91 cent per lb.