21 November 2004	Sunday	08 Shawwal 1425

KARACHI, Nov 20: Cotton prices on Saturday eased modestly from the overnight higher levels as some of the ginners lowered their asking prices owing to higher arrivals of phutti into the ginneries.

Floor brokers said while the leading ginners held on to their positions awaiting further developments on the supply and demand front, their weaker links tried to get out of the market fearing further decline in prices.

In physical trading, Punjab variety was traded lower on an average rate of Rs1,950 as compared to overnight's uniform rate of Rs2,000 and Sindh type was available between Rs1,800-1,900 per maund depending on the quality of lint, they said.

"I don't think prices could ease further lower despite above market expectations arrivals of phutti", says a leading ginner "the TCP is there as a second buyer and is capable of saving the situation".

Some of the ginners holding long positions may, however, indulge in hasty selling but that may not be bearish market factor as leading ginners will opt for the TCP rather than selling at the lower rates to the spinners and mills.

Irrespective of negative impact of the higher arrivals on the ruling prices, spinners and mills remained active buyers and lifted all the lots offered between Rs1,950 on the lower side and Rs1,975 on the higher side for the southern Punjab lint.

"Spinners are still to go a long way to cover their forward positions against their sales of cotton yarn and made-ups", ginners said "they may need 12m bales plus to see the current season through and uptill now they are half way to their annual demand".

The higher arrivals did not worry them but they are blessing in disguise for both the ginners and the spinners as they will keep the wheels moving on all the fronts, they said.

Meanwhile, private sector exporters have registered 0.222m bales against their export orders with the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) up to November 15, against which 67,564 bales have been physically shipped.

Official spot rates were, therefore, shed the overnight gain and were quoted lower by Rs20 per maund at Rs1,925, although most of the deals in the ready section were done above them.

New York cotton futures also showed modest fall of 0.67 and 0.03 cents at 47.83 and 43.28 cents per lb for both the ruling December and the distant March settlements respectively.

Ready off-take was active as till late Friday evening about 20,000 bales, changed hands, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH VARIETY: 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs1,825-1,875, 1,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs1,975-1,990, 600 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs1,825-1,850, 400 bales, Jhole at Rs1,875 and 400 bales, Mehrabpur at Rs1,900.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 2,000 bales, Rajanpur at Rs1,975-1,980, 1,000 bales, each, Bahawalpur, Lodhran, and Uch Sharif at Rs1,975, 1,000 bales, Burewala at Rs1,950, 1,000 bales, Hasilpur at Rs1,950-1,960, 1,200 bales, Bhawana, 800 bales, Jhang, 500 bales, Gojra and 400 bales, Mongi Banglow at Rs1,950.