KARACHI, July 15: After having fallen sharply during the last couple of sessions, the cotton market on Thursday resisted fresh decline as spinners resumed their covering operations at the lower levels.

Unsold stocks of 0.453m bales of the current crop lying with the some of the leading ginners notwithstanding, some of them who have resumed ginning operations both in the lower Sindh and the central Punjab have lowered their asking prices, brokers said.

During the last couple of sessions, the spinners have purchased about 5,000 bales of the new crop at an average rate of Rs2,450, which is said to be in line with their import parity levels, they said.

But there is no word on the unsold stock with the ginners as the spinners and mills are more inclined to have as much as new crop as they could at the current rates.

The ginners have welcomed reports that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan will carry out survey of the current crop stocks in an apparent effort to bailout the ginners from the prevailing impasse of falling mill demand.

Unlike the previous season when the ginners chased prices of phutti as higher as Rs1,700 per 40 kg, they are not inclined to buy above their parity rate of below Rs1,000 in relation to selling rates of lint, they added.

Indications are that sanity will prevail on the cotton front sans speculation during the current seasons, which in turn will benefit both the ginners and the spinners, market sources said.

"Last season, the cotton economy remained in the tight grip of the growers who exploited the situation caused by rumours of a short crop and consequent panic buying by the ginners, hoping an identical rise in lint prices," they said.

Meanwhile, according to the official figures, import figure of lint cotton up to May 31 soared to over 2m bales, and about 0.2m bales more are claimed to be in the pipeline, reflecting that the mill consumption needs have swelled to new peak levels.

There was no change in the official spot rates after the last couple of sessions steady decline. New York cotton futures also recovered from the recent lows, up 0.20 and 0.04 for both the ruling October and the distant December settlements at 46.80 and 47.34 cents per lb, respectively.

Ready business was light totalling 6,000 bales of the current crop, including two big deals of 1,650 bales, from an Uch Sharif ginnery at Rs2,400 and 2,200 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,650. But lower Sindh low-mic showed further decline as 100 and 200 bales of Shahdadpur and Sinjoro were sold at Rs2,150.