May 16, 2006	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1427

KARACHI, May 15: Trading on the cotton market on Monday resumed on an insipid note as spinners and mills remained selective buyers of fine lots to produce higher counts of cotton yarn. Spinners and mills are worried over reports from the irrigation water front and are trying to build up a strong stock position to meet any emergency on the lint supply front, market sources said.

“Most of them are expected to take an active part in the May 16 TCP tender for 30,000 bales and leading among them may offer higher prices to grab the entire amount of lint,” they said, adding: “No one among them is in a mood to take even a calculated risk on the supply front at this stage.”

But unlike the weekend session when ginners were not inclined to lower their asking prices, some of them offered some lots below that rate, which were readily picked by the spinners, brokers said.

The leading ginners who still hold bulk of the unsold stock entertain higher price ideas in the backdrop of irrigation water problems for the sowing of new crop and are holding on to their unsold positions.

“The ginner perception is that if the sowing of the new crop is further delayed, there could be a pressure on lint supplies and the consequent increase in prices before the arrival of the new crop from the lower Sindh cotton belt,” they said.

Those ginners who hold odd lots, however, are trying to get out of the market around the current levels and selling them below Rs2,500 per maund.

Some of the deals, including big-lots, changed hands below Rs2,500 per maund levels, which the spinners and mills claim are in line with their export parity level of textiles.

The activity, however, failed to pick up on the ready counter as spinners remained busy with the paper work to bid for the TCP lint auction on Tuesday.

Official spot rates were firmly held around the previous levels, but some of the deals were done well above them in physical trading late in the evening.

The notable feature was that a leading exporter sold 1,000 bales of B.T. cotton to a local mill, Karachi delivery, at Rs2,475 per maund.

On the ready counter, 1,200 bales of upper Sindh were sold at Rs2,450 and 500 bales, Kabula at Rs2,495.