KARACHI, May 25: Cotton prices on Wednesday eased modestly from the recent highs as the official rate committee revised them in line with the average quality of lint available with the ginners. A downward revision by Rs25 per maund reflected that unsold stock of fine lots of medium staple length was falling with the ginners and it was in this view the official body chose to lower rates in line with the average quality of lint.
Floor brokers said some of the spinners who still needed a fair amount of lint from the open market were lifting each lot offered by the ginners around and below Rs2,100 per maund.
But some of the leading ginners were holding onto unsold stock of stray fine lots and hoped to sell them in line with the TCP rates above Rs2,300 per maund, they said.
Leading spinners and mills, who are reported fully booked for the final quarter of the current fiscal ending June 30, were active buyers of TCP lint for quality reasons.
“We are preparing for the next TCP auction to be held on May 28, and intend to lift all the lots in the absence of foreign buyers who are not inclined to go beyond 43 cents per lb, which is below the TCP reference price”, says a leading spinner.
Meanwhile, reports originating from the private sector exporters indicate that they were still active buyers of inferior lint around Rs2,000 per maund, while central Sindh ginners are not inclined to sell stray stocks below Rs2,050.
According to official figures the private sector exporters have up to May 7 registered foreign sales contracts for 0.731m bales with the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), against which they have already made physical shipments of 0.402m bales to various destinations, showing their aggressive salesmanship in a falling world market.
After about four weeks, official spot rates were lowered by Rs25 per maund, New York cotton futures were also quoted further lower by 0.19 and 0.20 cents per lb at 50.08 and 51.80 cents for both the ruling July and the distant October contracts respectively.
Ready business was also slow as spinners were finalizing only those deals which the ginners were ready to deliver at their factories in Karachi. A lot of 200 bales, was sold at Rs2,100 per maund.
