KARACHI: Steady flow of buying helped cotton prices stay firm on Friday.

However, much of the trading remained around quality cotton which was running in short supply.

Prices were being quoted at around Rs7,000 per maund (around 37 kil-ograms), brokers said.

Apart from local dynamics, the domestic market is also tracking an uptrend in leading cotton markets.

Market reports suggested that little unpicked phutti (seed cotton) has been left behind in cotton fields, which indicates that the crop size would not be more than 10.08m bales.

Around 3.5 to 4m willhave to be imported and spinners have already booked around 2.3m bales to meet the gap. However, global cotton prices are much higher compared to the last year.

There was strong demand for quality cotton, but spinners were disappointed as ginners were reluctant to sellateurrent rates,brokersadded.

The KCA`s spot rates were firm at overnight level. Major deals on the ready counter were: 1,000 bales from Rohri at Rs6,750, 600 bales Haroonabad at Rs6,800, 400 bales Sadigabad at Rs6,925, 800 bales Rahimyar Khan at Rs6,950, 600 bales Taunsa Sharif at Rs6,950 and 400 bales Ghazi Ghat at Rs6,950.