25 August 2004	Wednesday	08 Rajab 1425

KARACHI, Aug 24: Cotton market on Tuesday eased from the overnight higher levels owing to hasty selling by some of the ginners fearing further decline in prices owing to predictions of a good crop.

Spinners were not inclined to take a breather and continued to cover forward positions against foreign sales of yarn for the next quarter. Most of the deals were again finalized between Rs2,250 and Rs2,300 per maund depending on the quality of lint, which appears to be in line with spinner export parity rates, which were lower by Rs50 to Rs75 per maund as compared to Monday's closing prices.

Brokers said that the interesting feature was that both the lint from the lower Sindh and central Punjab cotton belts were being sold at par, although in normal conditions, the latter was sold at a premium of Rs50 to Rs100 per maund owing to quality differentials.

"The uniformity in rates reflects that the new crop stuff is of low-mic and may touch an average level of four per cent after picking operations resume in the upper Sindh and the southern Punjab cotton belts known for better quality lint", says a broker.

However, active daily mill intake, sailing on the export front are smooth and most of the spinners have firm orders for the next quarter. Industry sources said that the ancillary industry was also picking up after a lean period as the recent fall in cotton yarn prices on the local market had a positive impact on its export competitiveness.

Meanwhile, private sector exporters managed to sell about 5,000 bales from the current crop to foreign importers after the recent decline in prices during the current month and some of them claimed they had more firm orders in their hands against which they were making covering purchases.

During the last about one year from Aug 3, 2003 to July 31, 2004, they had physically shipped 0.218m bales to various countries. There was no change in the official spot rates for the second day in a row, although some fine lot fetched higher prices.

On the other hand New York cotton futures turned mixed in slow trading. While the ruling October delivery was marked down by 0.20 cents, the distant December rose by 0.19 cents at 50.60 and 51.42 cents per lb respectively.

Both the contracts had recovered eight cents per lb during the last week. Ready offtake was active as till late in the evening about 6,000 bales changed hands as under:

SINDH TYPE: 800 bales, Mirpur at Rs2,300, 600 bales, Sultanabad at Rs2,250 to Rs2,300, 1,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,300, 1,000 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,275 to Rs2,300, 1,000 bales, Hyderabad at Rs2,275 to Rs2,300, 400 bales, Nayabad at Rs2,275 and 200 bales at Rs2,250.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 600 bales, Sahiwal at Rs2,250 to Rs2,300, 200 bales each Haroonabad and Mian Channu at Rs2,300 and 200 bales, Sahiwal also at this rate.