December 4, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 9, 1424

KARACHI, Dec 3: Trading activity on the cotton market on Wednesday picked up as spinners and mills resumed their post-Eid holiday covering operations.

About 20,000 bales including some big-lot of 4,000 to 5,000 bales changed hands between Rs3,250 to Rs3,300 per maund in addition to overnight tally, dealers said.

Although a section of spinners kept to the sidelines and did not actively participated in the daily proceeding awaiting apparently the arrival figures for the fortnight ended Nov 30, to be released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association possibly on Thursday, leading among them remained active buyers.

Market sources said the current arrival figures may show a decline of about 0.250m bales after an increase during the last about three months and that will give a fair idea of the total crop.

The future direction of the market will be guided by the arrival figures, although general perception is that prices may remain stable around the current levels, quality differential notwithstanding.

Leading spinners who have already assessed the crop losses through their private surveys are, however, not inclined to take a breather fearing further increase in prices, they said adding “their strong presence on the market is keeping prices on the higher side”.

Some of them had already made forward deals for a substantial quantity after New York cotton futures fell to a recent low of 67 cents and some consignments are on their way, they said.

According to official figures, spinners have already imported about 0.3m bales up to Sept 30, the monthly import figures being 0.916m, 1.082m and 0.914m bales during the months of July, August and September respectively.

Official spot rates were, therefore, again held unchanged at the last levels, although most of the deals were done well above them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand rose by 0.25 and 0.49 cents per lb for both the maturing December and the ruling March contracts at 68.50 and 73.58 cents per lb respectively.

Ready offtake was active as till late in the evening about 20,000 bales changed hands, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH VARIETY: 200 bales, Khipro at Rs3,100, 400 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,800, 800 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,800 to Rs2,950 and 5,000 bales, K-68, Khairpur at Rs3,250.

PUNJAB TYPE: 2,000 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs3,300, 600 bales, Mamon Kanjan at Rs3,150 to Rs3,330, 400 bales, Muridwala, 200 bales, Gojra, 400 bales, Jhang, 600 bales, D.G.Khan 1,000 bales, each Sadiqabad and Ahmedpur East and 400 bales, Haroonabad at Rs3,300.