KARACHI, Sept 26: Quieter conditions prevailed on the cotton market on Friday as spinners kept to the sidelines most of the time partly because of a short Friday session and higher asking prices by ginners.

Spinners withdrew to the sidelines after ginners raised their asking prices to Rs2,600, which they claimed are well above their export parity levels for yarn on the world markets, brokers said.

“We have to maintain a judicious equilibrium between the lint and the yarn export rates but for the last couple of sessions steady rise in lint prices has outwitted us on the export market,” says a leading spinner.

They decided not as tactical move to push prices down but to operate within their export parity levels and re-enter the market after prices ease from the current levels, the brokers said.

The standoff was apparently caused after ginners raised their selling prices to Rs2,600, which come to Rs2,954 per maund after adding 15 per cent sales tax, they said.

“The price war between spinners and ginners has just started and who will remain at the receiving end will be known during the next couple of weeks but the holding capacity of ginners and growers could well set the future price pattern,” market sources said.

The private sector exporters who were participating in daily trading were also conspicuous by their absence, reflecting prices have risen beyond their export parity level despite higher New York rates.

Stray lots, however, did change hands as spinners holding short positions and mostly operating on daily basis because of financial constraint lifted a couple of hundred bales.

Meanwhile, reports coming in from the textile sector indicate that a meeting of spinners is being arranged shortly to chalk out a future line of action in case the current price flare-up continues.

There is a loud whispering in the market they may seek a ban of lint export until the size of the new crop is fully known to stabilize local prices, the market sources said.

It was because of above mentioned facts that official spot rates were also raised by Rs50 per maund at Rs2,525. Phutti rates were quoted at Rs1,100 to Rs1,150 per 40 kg both in the Sindh and Punjab cotton belts.

New York cotton futures eased by 0.40 and 0.26 cents at 64.80 and 66.16 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the distant December contracts at 64.80 and 66.16 cents per lb, respectively.

Ready offtake was light as till late in the evening about 3,000 bales changed hands mostly in the Punjab cotton belt, while the local market remained silent.