April 1, 2003	Tuesday	Muharram 28, 1424

KARACHI, March 31: Trading on the cotton market on Monday resumed on a brisk note as spinners lifted all the lots offered below Rs2,650 per maund.

The strong presence of spinners on the market signalled that leading among them may have found cue to the total size of the crop and indulged in hast buying.

The arrival figures for March are due to be released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) in the next couple of sessions, which market sources claim, could be close to the final tally and will certainly have further bullish impact on the prices, dealers said.

But physical trading during the last couple of sessions reflected that spinners and mills were not in a haste and deterred by reports of a short supply and entered and left the market according to their own perceptions.

However, ginners too having a fair idea of the crop were also not in a hurry and held on to their positions and refused to sell below their export parity levels.

“The spinners are playing hide-and-seek with the ginners despite having a fair idea of the total crop,” says a broker, adding “but no one among them is worried over the manoeuvring and held on to their positions.”

Ginners said there was enough time to outwit spinners before the new crop from the lower Sindh cotton belt arrived and Iraq war as expensive foreign lint provided “us a needed leverage”.

It was perhaps in this background that spinners re-enter the market after a brief lull and indulged in big-lot business but below Rs2,700 per maund.

After last couple of sessions’ lull when spinners remained conspicuous by their absence, they made active covering purchases mostly at the ginners asking prices.

On the export front, the private sector exporters sold 6,803 bales to Bangladesh, Indonesia and Thailand during the last five days, pushing the total foreign sales to 0.170 bales up to March 29.

Official spot rates, therefore, were held unchanged as most of the deals in the ready section were done in line with them barring some inferior varieties.

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

SINDH TYPE: 200 bales, Mirpur Mathelo at Rs2,625; 400 bales, Gothki at Rs2,625; and 800 bales, Sarhad also at Rs2,625.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 3,000 bales, Bagho Bahar at Rs2,650; 1,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,650; 1,500 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,645, 1,000 bales at Rs2,650 and 700 bales at Rs2,655; and 3,300 bales, Fazalpur at Rs2,650.