KARACHI, Oct 25: Cotton market on Tuesday consolidated overnight gains as mill demand remained active throughout the session as price ideas of buyers and selling found a meeting ground.
But spinners are not inclined to go beyond the price level of Rs2,400 for fine types, while some of the ginners opted to sell lower grade varieties at a discount, brokers said.
But for the second session in a row, the demand for central Sindh type remained at a low ebb as spinners preferred fine varieties from the Punjab ginneries mostly below Rs2,400 per maund, they said.
Modest lots of central Sindh type were traded between Rs2,275 and Rs2,325 per maund, but there was no deal in the upper Sindh fine type because of resumption of late picking operations.
Floor brokers said in the absence of the TCP, spinners and mills were sole buyers and were buying those lots which conform to their quality standards both in terms of staple length and prices.
Although, the government has allowed the TCP to enter the market to ensure a fair price to the grower and it has reactivated its procurement centres in the central Sindh amid conflicting reports about the size of the crop.
Damage to crop owing to floods and rain in some of the Punjab cotton growing areas did not allow resuming of buying operations. Moreover, prices remained stable despite reports of a short crop, they said.
Meanwhile, the TCP was trying to sell its unsold stocks from the previous crop to get ready for re-entering the market at any stage to support the market if prices show abnormal rise or fall after the final crop figure is out.
Official spot rates were held firmly at the previous levels, although fine lots were traded well above them in the ready section.
New York cotton futures on the hand came in for modest speculative selling and were marked down by 0.46 and 0.26 cents at 54.03 and 56.16 cents per lb for both the ruling December and the forward March settlements respectively.
Ready off-take was light totalling about 10,000 bales, as under:
SINDH TYPE: 200 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,275, 200 bales, each Tando Muhammad and Nayabad at Rs2,325.
PUNJAB VARIETY: 200 bales, D.G.Khan at Rs2,365, 1,000 bales, Burewala at Rs2,375 to Rs2,400, 400 bales, Vehari at Rs2,375 to Rs2,390, 1,600 bales, Nurpur at Rs2,375 and 2,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,375 to Rs2,410, 400 bales, Rajanpur, 800 bales, Gaggon, 1,400 bales, Kabirwala, 400 bales, each Mongi Bungalow, Kassowal, Shujabad, and Lodharan, 1,000 bales, Jahania, and 800 bales, Jalalpur at Rs2,400.
