November 7, 2003	Friday	Ramazan 11, 1424

KARACHI, Nov 6: The cotton market on Thursday maintained a firm outlook as ginners were not inclined to sell their stock below an average rate of Rs3,400 per maund without 15 per cent sales tax.

After having purchased about 50,000 bales in Wednesday night massive buying operations, spinners kept to the sidelines on Thursday apparently awaiting the outcome of Islamabad parleys between the commerce minister and the cotton trade representative, including Aptma and KCA, seeking a way out from the impending crisis.

Big-lot business reflects spinners’ panic and their intentions to grab floating stock irrespective of the asking prices, dealers said.

However, as ginners’ price ideas are on the higher side, spinners took a breather, anticipating some relief in the form of taxes by the government to pull the textile industry out of the impending crisis of a short crop and higher lint prices.

“After having purchased phutti on an average rate of Rs1,600 per 40 kg, no one could sell lint at the asking prices of spinners,” ginners said. “We have also to maintain a certain measure of profitability above the break-even point.”

Some leading ginners claim that leading growers are still holding a substantial quantity of phutti into their godowns and are not sending it apparently anticipating further increase in prices.

“The current price flair-up reflects that cotton traders are not basing their price ideas on the supply and demand factors and rather playing on the tune of speculative forces who are selling the idea of a short crop efficiently,” one broker said.

The other positive factor fuelling the local price flare-up is reports from the New York Cotton Exchange and the sympathetic positive impact of higher world prices.

The future cotton outlook appears to be bullish as it will be sustained apparently by panic mill buying rather than fears of a short crop, dealers said.

It was in this background that official spot rates were further hiked by Rs50 at Rs3,325 per maund without 15 per cent sales tax.

New York cotton futures also maintained their upward drive and rose by 0.27 and 0.39 cents per lb at 77.82 and 80.64 cents per lb for both the ruling December and the forward March settlements, respectively.

The following are some of the major deals finalized late on Wednesday evening:

SINDH TYPE: 400 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs3,225 (seed stuff); 200 bales, Sanghar at Rs3,170 (seed stuff); 1,200 bales, Sanghar at Rs3,000 to Rs3,050; 400 bales, Tando Adam at Rs3,050; 200 bales, Jhole at Rs3,000; and 2,000 bales, Khairpur (K-68) at Rs3,300 to Rs3,350.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,800 bales, Ahmedpur East, 1,600 bales, Bahawalpur, 3,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan, 1,200 bales, Yazman, 2,800 bales, Rajanpur, 2,000 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs3,400; 800, 600 and 600 bales, Haroonabad, Faqirwali and Hasilpur, respectively, also at this rate.

Apart from the above big deals, some retails lots from various Punjab stations also changed hands between Rs3,350 and Rs3,375 depending on quality.