November 9, 2002	Saturday	Ramazan 3,1423

KARACHI, Nov 8: Active trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Friday as spinners and mills were not inclined to sit on the sidelines followed by predictions of further increase in prices.

Although official reports about the cotton situation was fairly encouraging indicating the final crop size according to initial projections despite a decrease in the acreage but spinners and mills were not inclined to take even a calculated risk at this time of the season and maintained their buying operations at the higher levels.

“There is quality war among them as each one of them is inclined to grab the floating stock of fine lots at the prevailing prices”, brokers said and that “factor is keeping the market in top gear”.

According to cotton specialists the quality of lint deteriorates if proper care is not taken to store it at this time of the season. Moreover, the phutti of first and the second picking is generally considered ideal to produced fine quality of cotton yarn both for the local end-product users as well as the foreign markets.

The daily large volumes are reflective of this fact as leading spinners are out to have all the fine lots irrespective of asking prices by the ginners, they added.

However, lint prices seem to have stabilized below Rs2,150, depending on quality and the larger volumes reflect that it suits to the parity levels of both the ginners and the spinners.

Floor brokers said the recent sharp increase in international prices of cotton has also forced spinners to cover their positions at the current levels as the imports may now not be that competitive.

Last year, spinners and mills have imported a record 1.250m bales from various sources at much lower rates but during the current season it may not be possible, although the local industry may need about 12m bales to see the season through.

On the export front, private sector exporters have registered foreign sales contracts for 1,480 bales with the Export Promotion Bureau on Nov 6, sold to Indonesian buyers. Total foreign sales up to Nov 7, rose to 40,000 bales so far.

There was no change in the official spot rates, which were quoted around Rs2,100 per maund.

New York cotton futures on the other hand rose by 0.54 and 0.58 cents per lb at 48.23 and 50.22 cents per lb for both the ruling December and the distant March settlements respectively.

Ready business was fairly active total about 8,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE : 500 bales, Nawabshah at Rs2,050.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 200 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,100, 500 bales at Rs2,125, 800 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,150, 500 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,125, 1,000 bales, D.G.Khan at Rs2,100, 400 bales, at Rs2,135, 200 bales, Mamoo Kanjan at Rs2,100, 200 bales, Gojra at Rs2,100, 400 bales, Mungi Bungla at Rs2,100, 200 bales, each Mian Channu and Chichawatni at Rs2,075.