KARACHI, Sept 19: Trading on the cotton market on Monday resumed on a steady note as spinners and mills remained active buyers at the current levels as the bulk of buying again was focussed on the Sindh variety.

The interesting feature was that most of the deals in the Sindh type were finalized below Rs2,200 between Rs2,100 to Rs2,175 per maund depending on quality, while Punjab type was traded lower between Rs2,190 to Rs2,225.

Floor brokers said reports of higher crop are keeping the ruling prices a bit depressed as both growers and ginners are not inclined to hold long positions until the size of the new crop is clear.

“The crop position will be clear after picking operations of phutti are resumed in the major areas of upper Sindh and southern Punjab, which fetches higher price owing to its fine and contamination-free quality,” they said.

Some of the areas in these major cotton belts is said to have resumed on a modest scale but arrivals of phutti are too small to resume ginning operations, they said.

Market sources attributed the modest buying by the spinners and mills to their stock positions and liquidity problems, although they will remain active buyer of the new crop against their forward sales of cotton yarn and finished textiles.

However, they will play safe until the world cotton yarn market showed some improvement weighed down by the erratic New York cotton futures and limiting export demand, they added.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the major crop areas indicate the growth is fairly satisfactory and production target is expected to be met.

Official spot rates were, therefore, firmly held at the last close, although most of the deals were done according to quality premiums.

Ready offtake was light totalling about 6,000 bales as under:

SINDH TYPE: 2,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,125 to 2,150, 600 bales, Tando Ghulam Muhammad at 2,150 to 2,175, 400 bales, Shahpur Chakkar at 2,160 to 2,165, 400 bales, Sinjoro at 2,150, 400 bales, Jhole at 2,165, 400 bales, Sultanabad at 2,135 to 2,150, 200 bales, Sarari at 2,150 and 200 bales, Tando Adam at 2,100.