KARACHI, Sept 28: Cotton prices on Wednesday eased from the previous levels as some of the ginners indulged in hasty selling followed by steady arrivals of phutti into ginneries.

But some cotton analysts predict heating of the market in coming sessions in sympathy with New York cotton futures followed by reports of damage to the standing crop during the two recent hurricanes.

Both the ruling October and the distant December settlements finished with limit-gain of 2.92 and 2.83 cents per lb at 52.00 and 54.09 cents, respectively.

“The higher New York futures generally lead to an identical rise in world prices and Pakistan just on the threshold of harvesting another bumper cotton crop could be the chief beneficiary of the price flare-up,” leading brokers said.

The private sector exporters have now become a bit active and are probing the world markets to sign fresh export deals both for new and old crop stocks.

But on the other hand, spinners and mills are worried fearing an identical increase in local lint prices, which in turn could disturb their export parity levels for the current quarter ending December 31, they said.

Both the central Sindh and Punjab varieties were traded Rs25 to Rs50 per maund lower in line with fixing by the growers at the lower levels, fearing further decline in prices amid talk of a higher crop.

Most of the deals in Sindh type done at Rs2,110 on the lower side and Rs2,165 on the higher side depending on the quality of lint, while the Punjab variety was traded well below the previous average rate of Rs2,200, the lowest rate being Rs2,150.

Ready offtake was on the higher side as the spinners lifted all the lots offered by the ginners at the lower levels, the following being some of the notable deals, which gone through:

SINDH VARIETY: 1,200 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,110 to Rs2,125; 800 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,150 to Rs2,160; 400 bales, Nawabshah at Rs2,140 to Rs2,160; 400 bales, Khipro at Rs2,125 to Rs2,130; 400 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,120 to Rs2,135; 800 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,150; 600 bales, Sarari at Rs2,160 to Rs2,165; 200 bales, Sakrand and Qazi Ahmed at Rs2,165; 400 bales, Daur at Rs2,155; and 200 bales, Moro at Rs2,160.