KARACHI, Feb 3: The over all volume of phutti arrival into ginneries remained slightly higher by 4.67 per cent over the corresponding period of last year.

According to official figures, 9.432 million bales were reported to have reached ginneries up to Feb 1, 2003, compared to 9.011 million bales in the corresponding period last year.

It is encouraging to note that both the cotton producing provinces, Sindh and Punjab are still showing higher arrival of phutti over the previous year.

The fortnighly (Jan 15-31) arrival of phutti recorded a decline by 346,815 bales at 240,276 bales compared to 587,091 bales recorded in the same period last year.

As the sowing in Sindh starts early, therefore, it has started to peter out. Even then the over all arrival of phutti in the province was higher by 0.45 per cent over the same period last year.

As a result of this the phutti arrival in Sindh was 2.156 million bales as against 2.146 million bales recorded in the corresponding period last year.

Similarly, the phutti arrival in the Punjab also crossed previous years figures of 6.665 million bales to 7.275 million bales.

There is higher off-take of cotton by spinners this year as they have lifted around 7.610 million bales up to Jan 31, 2003, as against 6.932 million bales in the same period last year.

The private exporters also purchased a sizeable quantity of 110,736 bales compared to a nominal quantity of 21,323 bales lifted in the corresponding period last year.

There are lesser unsold stocks of 1.711 million bales lying with ginners this year as compared to 1.939 million bales in the corresponding period last year.