January 25, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 21, 1423

KARACHI, Jan 24: Cotton market on Friday passed through a relatively quieter session as buyers and sellers were locked in price war followed by reports of pressure on ready supplies.

While ginners are not willing to sell fine lots below Rs2,300 per maund, spinners are not inclined to oblige them because of their export parity levels.

“The world yarn markets are improving slowly but not at the scale the local lint prices have risen,” spinners say. “We have to remain competitive on the world market to maintain the outflow of end products and higher lint prices blunt our competitive edge.”

Floor brokers said the current stalemate is expected to continue for another couple of sessions but ginners appear to be in a commanding positions owing to conflicting reports about the crop.

Leading spinners also, through their monitoring teams and supply surveys fully know that the local supplies may not be enough to meet their entire consumption needs for the current season, they added.

But they have curtailed their daily intake with a view to keeping prices within the current range compatible with their export parity levels. Leading among them seem to have decided not to buy above Rs2,250 apparently in an attempt to forestall speculative run in prices, some brokers said.

The current slow-down in the ready business is reflective of this phenomenon or an undeclared price war between the ginners and the spinners.

Unlike the previous season, ginners are holding on to their stocks rather than indulging in spot selling to avert undue losses. A couple of years back, most of the ginners had suffered heavy losses because of long unsold positions.

Official spot rates were again firmly held at the previous levels, although some of the deals done in the ready section were finalized at much higher rates.

New York cotton futures, which have been under pressure for the last couple of sessions, however, staged a fine recovery and were quoted higher by 0.72 and 0.82 cents per lb at 50.23 and 54.30 cents for both the ruling March and the distant December settlements respectively.

Ready offtake was light at about 3,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 1,000 bales, Nawabshah at Rs2,150.00 and 400 bales, Kanderio at 2,185.00.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 400 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,200 and 500 bales, Rahimyar Khan at 2,225.