KARACHI, July 21: Cotton prices on Thursday ruled steady as ginners are literally following the lead of TCP auctions and were not inclined to lower their asking prices irrespective of the quality considerations. In the absence of latest unsold figures, the ginners are relying on the TCP reference prices in its weekly auction rather than supply and demand factors, brokers said.

The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), apex body of cotton ginners and growers, had stopped giving sale figures since April 15, as arrivals of phutti into the ginneries dried up.

According to the latest figures released by the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA), the ginners still hold an unsold stock of 0.326m bales, but over the last three months they may have unloaded their long positions and a few among them may be holding stray lots for better prices, market sources said.

“Someone from the PCGA or the KCA should have made arrangements to ascertain the actual unsold figure lying with the ginners to support supply and demand factor,” says a leading broker. “The unsold figure, both on the higher and lower side, is considered a major market factor in setting the price trend.”

Foreign buyers are also interested in the availability of lint in the backdrop of falling prices, as it could help private sector exporters in better marketing of the commodity, he added.

Private sector exporters have purchased well over 0.534m bales of lint from the current crop and had made physical shipments of 0.434m bales against the export contracts up to April 2,005 and physically shipped 0.334 bales against the foreign orders, according to the official figures.

New York cotton futures on Thursday turned mixed. While the ruling October contract suffered a fresh fall of 0.20 cents at 48.25 cents, the forward December settlement recovered 0.10 cents at 49.89 cents per lb.

Official spot rates were firmly held unchanged at around Rs2,375 per maund against Rs2,400 per maund in the physical trading or TCP selling prices.