July 19, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 22, 1427

KARACHI, July 18: Cotton prices on Tuesday again revised downward by Rs40 per maund as some of the ginners lowered their asking prices followed by reports of steady arrivals of phutti into the lower Sindh ginneries.

There was, however, immediate positive or negative impact of the new trade policy on the cotton trade as exporters and dealers were still in the process of analysing it.

The perception that the new crop, though on a modest scale, is available at lower rates forced some of the ginners who were still holding modest unsold stocks of the current crop to sell at the lower rates.

Floor brokers said both the new crop and the current crop rates were about at par, although some of the fine lots were being quoted Rs25 higher per maund.

What seemed to have worried ginners holding unsold stocks were the reports that some more ginneries had resumed operations both in the central Sindh and Punjab cotton belts and further fall in prices haunted them.

About 1,000 bales of the new crop changed hands between Rs2,450 and Rs2,500 per maund depending on period of delivery and the quality of lint in trade.

However, a ready deal was reported around Rs2,550 well above the revised rates of the current crop, which indicated that the more ready deals may be in the pipelines during the next couple of sessions.

But market sources said unsold stocks of lint lying with the ginners were manageable and ginners were not worried as they could sell their stocks before new crop arrivals gather momentum. The new crop arrivals have, however, deprived them of their veto power over the fixation of ready rates, which now will be set by the counter market forces.

Official spot rates were quoted lower by another Rs25 at Rs2,525 per maund but on the other hand New York cotton futures rose by 0.58 and 0.60 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the forward December contracts at 50.95 and 52.76 cents.

The following are some of the new crop deals: 200 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,550 ready delivery, 200 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,500 delivery on Aug 1 or 2, and 600 bales, Sultanabad at Rs2,450 delivery on Aug 15 and 20.