Trade turnover of cotton and the commodity prices slightly declined at the local markets after cotton yarn manufacturers witnessed a slowdown in their sales, a dealer said on Saturday.

“Pakistan’s cotton markets observed slowdown in trade activities,” Naseem Usman, a broker at the Karachi Cotton Exchange, said.

Traders exchanged a total of 19,000 bales at Rs5,400 to Rs6,600 per maund (37.324 kilograms) as compared to 23,400 bales traded at Rs6,100 to Rs6,700 per maund a day ago, the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) reported.

Meanwhile, the KCA kept its cotton spot (average) rate unchanged for the third consecutive day at Rs6,400 per maund.

The broker said that the slowdown was seen due to two major reasons; one that China, which is the biggest consumer of cotton in the world is no more active in the commodity buying these days since it is having huge reserves of it.