KARACHI, Aug 10: Cotton market on Tuesday showed steady trend as price ideas of buyers and sellers seem to have found a meeting ground as was reflected by active trading in the ready section.
Spinners and mills who have been reluctant to make fresh commitments are active buyers of the new crop stuff around Rs2,350 and are lifting all the lots offered for sale by the Sindh and the Punjab ginners, according to floor brokers.
However, supplies were inadequate to meet the entire mill demand as only a couple of ginning factories had resumed operations because of interruption in picking operation of phutti in the backdrop of recent spell of monsoon both in the Sindh and the Punjab cotton belts, they said.
"After having imported over 2m bales of lint from foreign sources, spinners have opted for the new crop, which is available in line with their export parity levels", says a ginner.
According to market sources, spinners and mills needed another 0.3m bales both of the current and new crop to close the current fiscal ending Aug 31, but instead of seeking fresh supplies of foreign stuff, most of them had opted for the local crop.
The interesting feature was that prices were stable apparently at an agreed average selling rate of Rs2,350 per maund, which was considered competitive for both the ginner and the spinner as well as the grower.
Ginners said unlike the previous season, growers were sending phutti on an unfixed basis but expedite delivery after having settled the selling with them or the middlemen.
For the time being the sailing on the new crop front is ideal as everyone is playing according to market rules, eliminating the element of speculation, they added. Official spot rates were, therefore, again held on the previous level and most of the deals in the ready section were done around that level.
New York cotton futures on the other hand resisted fresh fall amid slow trading. The ruling October delivery was quoted unchanged at 44.90 cents per lb, while the forward December rose 0.15 points at 45.75 cents per lb.
Ready business was light as about 4,000 bales including 1,500 bales in late Monday evening in the Punjab cotton belt, the following was Tuesday's ready off take: 1,500 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,350 and 200 bales, Sultanaabad also at the same rate.
The following are Tuesday's new crop Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) official spot rates for local dealings in Pak rupees for base grade 3 staple length 1-1/32" micronair value between 3.8 to 4.9 NCL.
