KARACHI, Nov 7: A record business of about 0.100m bales was transacted on the cotton market on Wednesday as haunted by reports of a short crop, spinners and mills tried to grab the floating stocks irrespective of the asking prices by the ginners.

Reporting from the Punjab cotton belt, a leading cotton consultant Naseem Usman claimed that bulk of the business finalized on Wednesday was on an unfix basis on sellers’ option. According to him about 50,000 to 60,000 bales were sold on an unfix basis at spot rates at the time of delivery. An identical amount changed hands in the ready section, most of them being big lots ranging from 1,000 bales to 6,000 bales.

Spinners are buyers between Rs2,000 to 2,050 per maund and weaker among the ginners having a little holding capacity are willing sellers at this rate, he says.

Conflicting reports about the damage to standing crop in the Punjab cotton belt kept spinners and ginners at their toes all the time as it was pretty hard to assess the exact amount of the crop losses, dealers said.

However, one thing is clear that late pest attack has certainly damage the crop but how much is not clear, they added.

There appears to be a mad rush for the floating stock of lint as financially strong group of spinners continued to indulge in big lot business irrespective of price tag.

“The hallmark of trading was to build-up long positions at any rate depending on quality below the Rs2,000 per maund mark as it is in line with the current export parity level”, floor brokers say.

The TCP high-ups were not inclined to join the current scramble for the lint as they have to abide by the rules of the game without indulging in speculative trading, they added.

An air of optimism prevailed among the ginners and growers after prices recovered from seasonal lows and despite a lower per acre yield most of them may now not be losers as was earlier speculated when lint and phutti prices have fallen as low as Rs1,500 and Rs650 per maund last month, respectively.

Market sources said the current price flare-up though is essentially based on speculative reports about the size of crop but there is no official word on the developing situation, although it needs clarifications to protect the interest of the textile industry.

Official spot rates were again held unchanged but in the ready section prices were quoted according to quality premium as was reflected by a big gap between the lowest and the highest rates at which the business was transpired.

Ready offtake was active as till late in the evening another about 50,000 bales changed hands. The following some of the notable deals all in Punjab variety: 2,000 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs1,925 to 1,950, 3,000 bales, D.G.Khan at Rs1,825 to 1,850, 3,000 bales, Rajanpur at Rs1,950, 4,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs1,950, 2,500 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs1,950, 1,000 bales, Yazman at Rs1,925 to 1,950, 1,000 bales, Alipur at Rs1,900, 2,000 bales, Sahiwal at Rs1,800 to 1,850, 1,000 bales, Chichawatni at Rs1,800 to 1,825, 1,000 bales, Mian Channu at Rs1,800 to 1,825, 1,000 bales each Muridwala and Gojra at Rs1,800 to 1,825.00 and 500 bales, Lodhran at Rs1,975.