28 September 2004	Tuesday	12 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Sept 27: Trading activity on the cotton market on Monday remained relatively slow as ginners and spinners remained locked in the price war, the chief victim being the ready business.

Unlike the previous sessions, the ready business was terribly low but some brokers said much of the activity remained confined to the Punjab type as some of the leading ginners were willing to sell their stock at an average price of Rs2,100.

But Sindh ginners did not oblige any of the spinner or the mills who offered to purchase central Sindh lint around Rs2,000 or slightly above this rate depending on quality, they said. Floor brokers said there was no official confirmation "whether or not the TCP purchased some lots as prices have fallen well below their support price of Rs2,159."

The current stand off between the ginner and the spinner is expected to continue during the coming weeks as the latter has a fair idea of the crop and hopes prices may fall further as growers are flooding the ginneries with the freshly picked phutti, they said.

No grower including the progressive ones are in mood to hold long unsold positions and selling stocks around Rs1,000 or slightly below this level mostly on cash, ginners said. But on the other hand ginners could not precisely decide how to cope with the larger arrivals of phutti as they have to deal with spinners who are in a position to exploit the situation in their favour after keeping to the sidelines for a couple of days, they said.

"The current hide-and-seek game between the ginners and spinners will continue for some more weeks until the final crop figure is available, although by that time they will bridge the supply gap", market sources said.

Unlike the previous season, spinners are seeking competitive local prices in line with the international market, currently under pressure on reports of global production glut and fall in New York future prices, they added.

Official spot rates consolidated the weekend gains and were firmly held at the previous levels amid slow dealing. In the ready section about 3,000 bales from the central Sindh ginneries changed hands but about 30,000 bales was reported during the last two sessions, following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH VARIETY: 1,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,000 to Rs2,050, 1,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,075 to Rs2,100, 1,000 bales, Nawabshah at Rs2,100 to Rs2,125 and 600 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,075.

PUNJAB TYPE: 400 bales, each Haroonabad and Rajanpur at Rs2,125, 200 each bales, Bahawalngar, Vehari Gojra, Chinogot and Arifwala Rs2,100.