November 11, 2001	Sunday	Shaba’an 24, 1422

KARACHI, Nov 10: Trading on the cotton market on Monday resumed on a bullish note as reports of a short crop kept spinners and mills at their toes all the day but there was no matching selling offers.

Unconfirmed reports reaching here from the Punjab cotton belt say some of the leading spinners are buyers around Rs2,100 per maund without 15 per cent sales tax, ginners continued to entertain higher price idea.

“It is pretty difficult at this formative stage, of new crop picking operations in the Punjab cotton belt, to form an opinion about the size of total production”, cotton analysts said.

The maiden picking operations have just started in the Punjab cotton belt, which on an average produces over 8 million bales of the total crop of 10m or odd bales.

But the spinner scramble to grab the ready floating stock, irrespective of the ginners’ asking prices, reflects that they may have a fair idea of the crop the extent of the damage to the standing crops in the Punjab.

Official sources still sticking to the revised production target of 10.2 million bales, claim the late pest attack is well below the economic injury level and the crop may not that short as being speculated by the textile industry.

“The current price flare-up may be speculative as by the end of the current month the size of the crop will be clear after second picking operations starts in the upper Sindh and southern Punjab cotton belts”, they say.

Cotton and phutti prices during the last two months have fallen to the seasonal lows of Rs1,425 and Rs600, respectively, but the current scare of a short crop caused a strong rebound to Rs2,100 and Rs875.

“Spinners having a fair idea of export markets in the wake of Afghan war and falling export orders may not be that fool to push lint prices to such a high level, they may have to use a secret weapon to recover losses if any in the bargain in the coming months”, say a leading broker.

It was perhaps in this background that the New York cotton futures were quoted further higher by 0.63 and 0.52 cents at 32.78 and 34.60 cents per lb for both the maturing December and the distant March settlements.

Local official spot rates also maintained their upward drive and were revised upward by Rs50 per maund at Rs1,950.

Ready business was slow as sellers and buyers ideas failed to find a meeting ground. However, the following deals were finalized late on Thursday even all in Punjab type, while there was quiet on the central Sindh cotton front.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 2,000 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,000, 1,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,000, 600 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,000, 500 bales, Rajanpur at Rs2,000 and 400 bales, Alipur at Rs1,975.