KARACHI, June 10: Physical activity on the cotton market on Monday remained slow as leading spinners were again conspicuous by their absence owing partly to higher asking prices.

Some of the spinners were, however, said to be after fine lots and managed to corner modest quantities for blending purposes with the inferior lots or polyester fibre.

The buying rates at Rs.1,700 to 1,750 per maund were well above the official spot rates of Rs.1,625 or those being offered by the TCP around Rs.1,550 per maund.

According to brokers and some leading ginners the unsold stock of about half a million bales consist mainly of inferior types as ginners sold superior lots at the time of crisis early this year during the Afghan war and falling world orders.

Much of the leftover stock is claimed to be of inferior types, most suited to the private sector exporters price-wise, they added.

“Leading export houses have already made forward deals for a substantial quantity to importers from the Far Eastern countries and are covering positions below Rs.1,450 per maund,” they added.

But mill demand is not picking up to the average level of 15,000 to 20,000 bales per day and that is why some of the ginners holding fairly long positions are worried over the developing situation, dealers said.

“In normal trading conditions, an unsold stock of half million bales is barely enough for a month for the spinning sector,” they said adding “on average the monthly mill intake has surpassed the high mark of over 0.825m bales during the current season.”

But local daily intake has now fallen to only 1,000 to 3,000 bales, which worries ginners as they want to clear the unsold positions before the arrival of new crop some time next month.

Meanwhile, the total foreign sales rose to 0.173m bales after private sector exporters registered export contract for another 4,934 bales sold to Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and some other countries, with the Export Promotion Bureau on June 7 and 8.

Official spot rates were again held unchanged but most of the deals reported in the ready section were done well above them.

The following deals were reported in the ready section during the last two sessions: 100 bales, Gothki at Rs.1,725, 500 bales, Oboro at Rs.1,750, 1,800 bales, Nayabad at Rs.1,500, 500 bales, Sanghar at Rs.1,450, 500 bales Vehari at Rs.1,625, 200 bales, at Rs.1,700, and 300 bales, some other Punjab stations at Rs.1,575.