September 3, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Saani24,1423

KARACHI, Sept 2: Cotton prices on Monday rose from the weekend lower levels below the Rs2,000 per maund mark as spinners continued to build-up long positions against their forward sales of cotton yarn.

As a result, official spot rates were revised upward to Rs2,035 per maund from the previous Rs1,950 in line with the deals being transacted in physical trading.

However, most of the deals in the ready section were done at higher rates as compared to the weekend, the lowest and the highest being Rs2,025 and Rs2,050 per maund.

There was a relative quiet on the central Punjab cotton front as spinners are opting for the Sindh lots despite being of short staple length because of quality reasons, dealers said.

Dealers said conflicting reports about the size of phutti into the ginneries appears to be one of the chief unsettling factors as both ginners and spinners use it as weapon to lower or increase lint prices.

The recent reports of a pest attack in some of the areas in the Punjab cotton belt, the major producer, may be one of the reasons behind spinners panic buying and the consequent price revision, one broker said.

However, as far as the news from the textile export front are concerned they could hardly form the basis of the snap run-up but falling inventories with some of the spinners may be one of the causes.

“Ginners are holding back to their stocks in a bid to boost phutti prices”, claims a leading broker adding “there could be some other contributory bullish factors also”.

The snap upward revision in prices has sent shock waves among the spinners and the textile mills as it could render their export commitments made for the quarter ending Sept 30, uncompetitive, he says.

Spinners who were expecting further fall in prices below the Rs2,000 per maund level were a bit disappointed and hastened to make fresh buying at the offered rates fearing further rise.

Ready offtake was, therefore, active as till late in the evening about 5,000 bales changed hands, the following being some of the notable deals done in Sindh type: 800 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,025, 200 bales, at Rs2,025 and 200 bales, at Rs2,050, 800 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,050, 200 bales at Rs2,025, 400 bales, Kot Ghulam Muhammad at Rs2,025, 200 bales, Khipro at Rs2,050, 200 bales, Hyderabad at Rs2,050, 200 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,050 and 200 bales, Kotri at Rs2,050.