April 5, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 6, 1427

KARACHI, April 4: Cotton market on Tuesday resisted fresh decline as some of the leading spinner groups resumed their covering purchases followed by reports of lower arrivals of phutti into the ginneries for the fortnight ended March 31, dealers said.

Some of them indulged in big-lot business in an effort to grab the floating stock of fine lots after paying premiums on them. Some of the lots, for instance from the southern Punjab ginneries, were sold at Rs2,475 per maund as compared to official spot rate of Rs2,400 per maund.

Although the TCP is also in the market and plans to dispose of its long positions before the arrival of the new crop from the lower Sindh cotton belt. The lower bid prices by spinners and mills for the TCP lint reflects that they are not inclined to go beyond them, brokers said.

“The current spinner thrust on fine lots held by some of the leading ginners of southern Punjab and upper Sindh shows they have now opted for the open market operations”, they added.

Lower than expected arrivals of phutti into the ginneries during the previous fortnight at 30,000 bales had warned spinners and mills there could be pressure on the local supplies in the weeks to come.

According to official figures released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) a total of 12.372m bales had arrived in the ginneries as compared to previous 12.342m bales.

Out of total spinners had so far purchased 11.112m bales and the private sector exporters 74,400 bales, leaving an unsold stock of 1.185m bales with the ginners.

What seemed to have sent alarm signals in the spinning sector was the lower unsold stock, which is equivalent to one month’s mill consumption. The spinners will need another 0.250m bales to see the current year through.

Official spot rates were again held unchanged at the overnight level of Rs2,400 per maund but in the ready section fine lots were sold at the higher rates.

New York cotton futures showed fractional fall of 0.08 and 0.03 cents at 52.57 and 54.57 cents per lb for both the ruling May and July contracts respectively.

The following are some of the deals, which gone through on Tuesday evening: 3,800 bales, Sadiqabad a Rs2,350, 1,600 bales and 1,400 bales, Khanpur and Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,475.