KARACHI, Aug 8: New crop cotton prices on Thursday remained stable despite the fact that spinners have curtailed their daily offtake in a bid to outwit ginners and ease the pressure on ready supplies.

Ginners were also in no haste to sell at the lower levels and held on to their unsold positions as there were no pressing demands from the growers for the payments of phutti sold to them at the fixed rate of Rs875 per 40 kg.

According to market sources most of the ginners are either holding on to their phutti stocks or dumping them in the ginneries on an unfixed basis to fix prices later. And that have created shortage of the new crop lint and consequent price flare-up.

However, as ginners were not inclined to lower their asking price most of the deals were reported around the overnight levels, the highest rate for the day being at Rs2,175 per maund from a Pithoro ginnery.

Floor brokers said pressure on the ready supplies of lint might continue for the next couple of weeks as growers from the lower Sindh cotton belt where picking operations resume earlier, are not inclined to lower their selling prices.

Already phutti is being sold around Rs900 per 40kg against the official procurement rates of Rs800 and growers are holding on to their stocks to keep the market warm.

“The cotton market for the time being appears to be in the tight grip of growers as they created the problem of supply and demand on the open market after holding back their stocks,” one broker said.

Leading spinners, who already have enough stocks to meet their consumption needs for the current year ending Aug 31, are claimed to be least worried, but those whose stock position is not that ideal are worried and paying much more for the lint to cover their nearby positions, he added.

Meanwhile, reports originating from the cotton yarn market indicate that prices are also rising in line with the lint cotton and end-product users are at a disadvantage as far as their export commitments are concerned. But market sources say world prices of cotton yarn and textiles have also shown a sympathetic rise.

There was no change in the official spot rates of the current crop, which remained static in the absence of slow ready business. However, a deal of 600 bales from Salehpat was reported well above them at Rs2,000 per maund.

Ready offtake was slow as spinners made selective buying of new crop from lower Sindh ginneries. The following being some of the deals: 100 bales of Sultanabad at Rs2,150; 100 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,150; 100 bales of Khipro at Rs2,150 and 100 bales at Rs2,175.