KARACHI, Jan 10: Physical activity on the cotton market on Friday showed a sizable expansion as spinners covered positions against their forward sales of cotton yarn.

The notable feature was that some of the leading exporters remained active buyers around Rs.2,100 per maund, which in turn kept spinners at their toes most of the time.

Floor brokers said in the absence of the Trading Corporation of Pakistan from the cotton market as a second buyer owing to stable prices, private sector exporters are making their presence felt.

“The reports that they are buyers around Rs,2,100 and or slightly above it indicate that Pakistani lint is getting competitive prices on the world markets,” they added.

With New York cotton futures ruling around, the export parity level of exporters should be five to six cent lower as the local lint is sold at discount because of quality and staple length reasons.

Although exporters are not inclined to disclose their f.o.b export prices, their strong presence on the market showed that they had already made forward sales of a substantial quantity to Bangladesh, Indonesia and some other Far Eastern countries.

Some of the leading world cotton producers including the US, China and India are expected to harvest lower crops during the current season, the impact of which is already visible on the world prices and dealers.

Yarn and cloth prices are also recovering from the year-end lows and indications are that the next two months could be more crucial for the textile industry as whole.

But most leading cotton analysts predict that Pakistan could be the chief beneficiary of the lower world crop as it is expected to have a sizable exportable surplus of lint after meeting the local demand, brokers said.

For the third session in a row, local rates remained pegged at the last close, while New York cotton futures fell by 0.43 and 0.68 cents per lb at 51.06 and 54.76 cents per lb for both the ruling March and the forward May settlements.

Ready offtake was active as till late in the evening about 15,000 bales changed hands as under:

SINDH VARIETY: 600 bales, Hingorja at Rs.2,105.00, 800 bales, Dadu at 2,100.00, 500 bales, Setharja at 2,150.00 and 1,000 bales, Shahdadpur at 2,100.00, both lots were purchased by the exporters and 800 bales, seedstuff at Rs.2,260.00.