December 11, 2001	Tuesday	Ramazan 25, 1422

KARACHI, Dec 10: The trading activity on the cotton on Monday was relatively slow as ginners were not inclined to further lower their asking prices because of parity reasons.

After having purchased phutti on an average rate of Rs900 per 40 kg and adding to it conversion charges, ginners claim their parity levels are much higher than the prices being offered by the spinners.

As a result, physical activity has considerably been slowed down in the absence of strong support from mills and spinners as price ideas of the both failed to find a meeting ground, dealers said.

However, leading ginners holding long unsold positions, are worried over the slowdown as the deadline of Dec 31, to adjust overdraft limits is drawing near, they said.

“Ginners may not indulge in panic selling by the end of the current month to meet their bank demand, there is a possibility of some abnormal selling from the weaker among them,” market sources said.

Together with the coming Eid holidays, this perception may also have caused a considerable slowdown in mill buying during the last couple of sessions, they add.

Meanwhile, the market is awaiting the arrival figures of phutti into the ginneries for the fortnight ending on Dec 15, which will give a fair idea of the total crop and then set the future trend for the market to follow.

Both the crop ideas of the private as well as the official quarters differs widely and the Dec 15, figures will decide who is close to a possible total.

Floor brokers said reports of purchase of contamination-free cotton from Rahimyar Khan and upper Sindh ginners at Rs2,325 per 40 kg by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) late last week did not influence the local rates as is indicated by the cotton in trade in physical dealings.

Official spot rates were quoted unchanged at Rs1,950 per maund and so did New York cotton futures around 37 and 38 cents per lb for both the ruling March and forward May settlements.

Unlike the previous sessions, ready offtake was modest as ginners were in no mood to lower their prices and as a result about 8,000 bales changed hands as under:

SINDH TYPE: 500 bales of K-68 Sawging Gothki, Dharki and Mirpur Mathelo at Rs2,025.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,000 bales of Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,000, 1,000 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,000 and 1,000 bales of Bahawalpur at Rs1,950 to 2,000.