May 27, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 28, 1427

KARACHI, May 26: Trading on the cotton market on Friday remained slow as ginners were not inclined to lower their asking prices below Rs2,500 per maund for fine lots.

Although some of the leading spinners and mills flooded the market with fresh orders but most of them were not willing to go beyond their export parity levels and lifted only those lots, which were competitive, dealers said.

But some others claimed some of the spinners are making direct purchases from the southern Punjab ginners above Rs2,500 per maund and reports of falling stocks worried local spinners.

A big deal from an upper Sindh ginnery indicates that some of the local spinners and mills have opted for the K-68 sawing, which is close to Punjab’s MNH-93 both in terms of quality and staple length.

Floor brokers said spinners are awaiting fresh tender for the sale of lint from the TCP but there is no positive indicator whether or not there will be a fresh tender or the TCP will keep a buffer stock of their inventory.

Owing to conflicting reports about the irrigation water and new crop sowing in some of the areas in the central Sindh cotton belt, government may have directed the TCP to await further developments on the crop front, they said.

However, reports coming in from the Punjab cotton belt indicate that the position of the newly sown crop is satisfactory as the current heat wave has killed the insects and there are no reports about the pest attack, they added.

Meanwhile, some of the private sector exporters have registered forward export contracts for another 14,000 bales on May 23, physical shipments against which are expected to be made during the next month.

Official spot rates were firmly held at the last levels but some of the deals were done well above them in the ready section.

New York cotton futures on the other hand showed fractional rise of 0.11 and 0.03 cents at 50.06 and 53.43 cents per lb, respectively, for both the ruling July and distant October settlements.

Ready off-take was modest totalling 2,400 bales, from a Sindh ginnery at Rs2,450 and 2,500. Some other lots also changed hands at different rates.