September 4, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 6, 1424

KARACHI, Sept 3: The cotton market on Wednesday remained unsettled as leading ginners from the lower Sindh indulged in fresh hasty selling fearing further decline.

For the second session in a row, price movements were highly erratic, touching the highest at Rs2,570 and the lowest at Rs2,400, showing a big difference of Rs170 per maund, reflecting uncertainty linked with larger crop ideas.

However, market sources failed to pinpoint the prevailing confusion among the ginners and their hasty selling touching the limits of professional rivalry sans higher crop ideas.

But some others claim what worries ginners is the quality of lint in trade and its low-mic. Fears that mic may fall below the average standard percentage appear to be one of the major reasons behind the current sell-off.

Spinners on the other hand say the current rates are on the higher side of the world parity rates and ginners knew it well they are going to fall further as the supplies improve further. Ginners are not inclined to keep long unsold positions and try to get out of them apparently on daily basis and hence the prevailing confusion.

Moreover, picking operations of phutti have also been resumed in some more areas of the central Punjab cotton belt and daily turnout of lint is increasing each day, they said.

“The fact that the Punjab ginner is selling fine quality lint at the same as that of short staple lower Sindh stuff is also forcing their counterparts in Sindh to lower their asking prices,” says a floor broker.

Barring upper Sindh variety, the Sindh lint is sold at a discount as compared to medium long staple lint from the Punjab ginneries.

A big lot of 1,200 bales, from a Bahawalnagar ginnery was sold at Rs2,550, slightly below good quality lint from the central Sindh, which is being sold between Rs2,550 and Rs2,575.

Official spot rates were, therefore, revised downward in line with the ready prices, off Rs30 at Rs2,530 per maund, without 15 per cent sales tax.

New York cotton futures on the other hand showed divergent trend. While ruling October settlement fell fractionally by 0.5 cents, the distant December rose by 0.21 cents per lb at 57.50 and 59.39 .

Ready offtake was moderately active totalling about 4,000 bales from Sindh ginneries as under: 200 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,570, 200 bales at Rs2,525; 200 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,560, 800 bales at Rs2,550, 200 bales at Rs2,525; 600 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,425, 700 bales at Rs2,400; 200 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,550; and 200 bales, Jhole at Rs2,550.