Cotton buying increases

Karachi

Textile mill-owners have increased cotton buying to 11,635 bales (155 kilograms each) ahead of a number of holidays this week, a dealer said on Tuesday.

The week is to observe holidays on accounts of 12th Rabi-ul-Awwal and Benazir Bhutto's death anniversary. Besides, people are expecting additional holidays on any one of the accounts from the provincial government, a broker at the Karachi Cotton Exchange said.  "Factories have made advanced buying in cotton to keep their factories functioning before and after the holidays," Naseem Usman said.  The local markets may remain slow and steady in remaining days of current month (December 2015) due to year-end closing, he said, adding the month of January may witness increased buying.

"It would become clear on January 2-3, 2016 as what will be the actual size of the crop this year...Traders are estimating below 10 million bales this year against 15.4 million bales initial target set in February," he said.