Not a single deal reported on the cotton market on Wednesday as mills were conspicuous by their absence, dealers said. The official spot rate was unchanged at Rs 8100, they added. In ready session, no any deal reported, they said. Rates of seed cotton per 40kg in Sindh and Punjab were at Rs 3600-4000, they said. In Balochistan, seed cotton prices were at Rs 3900-4000, they said.

In Sindh, Binola prices per maund were at Rs 1400-1550 and in Punjab rates were at Rs 1550-1650, they said and adding that polyester fibre per kg rates were at Rs 180. Market sources said that most of the leading spinners and mills were on the sidelines due to rising trend in the seed cotton rates.

The growers were not selling seed cotton at the present levels. In the meantime, cotton analyst, Naseem Usman said that trading activity may improve in the coming days.

According to reports, an Indian trade body said that India’s cotton exports could fall to 4.4 million bales in 2018/19, down 4.3 percent from the previous estimate as production dropped to its lowest level in nine years.

Lower exports by the world’s biggest cotton producer could support global prices which are trading near their lowest in 3-1/2 years and help rivals such as the United States, Brazil and Australia increase cargoes to key Asian buyers such as China, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The south Asian country exported 6.9 million bales in 2017/18.

Cotton prices rose 1% on Tuesday, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly crop progress report showed slightly weaker growing conditions in the major cotton-planting regions and ahead of the monthly demand and supply crop report due on Thursday.

Cotton contracts for December rose 0.59 cent, or 1%, to 59.57 cents per lb at 1:24 p.m. EDT (1724 GMT). It traded within a range of 58.88 cents and 59.60 cents a lb. Total futures market volume fell by 1,403 to 13,845 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 1,541 to 228,549 contracts in the previous session.