August 06, 2006	Sunday	Rajab 10, 1427

KARACHI, Aug 5: Quieter conditions prevailed on the cotton market on Saturday, as spinners and ginners remained locked in a price war on reported pressure on new crop supplies.

The recent monsoon spell has virtually pushed the cotton trading in the reverse gear, as both the picking and ginning operations remained suspended since last Friday, brokers said.

While arrivals of phutti into lower Sindh ginneries almost dried up owing to persistent rain, ginning operations also fell to low ebb as there was no phutti to be processed, they said.

Phutti already stocked before the rain spell in ginneries lying on the open plinths got wet and was not in a position to be ginned as the quality of lint may have been damaged.

Ginners said a week-long rain, was however, beneficial for the standing crop beyond the central Sindh cotton belt but was harmful in lower Sindh where the crop was in the picking stage.

Indications are that normal picking and ginning operations in the Sindh cotton belt are expected to be resumed possibly the middle of the next week if there is no fresh downpour, market sources said.

Some brokers reported picking and ginning operations in the central Punjab cotton belt are normal but bulk of the new crop lint is being lifted by Punjab spinners and mills.

Some of the local spinners are also seeking new crop supplies from their pending suspension here and some consignments may reach here possibly by the next week, they added.

Official spot rates were, however, again held unchanged at the previous level of Rs2,500 but some of the deals in the Punjab lint were done above them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand remained under pressure partly on reports of the absence of China from the global market and partly to higher US crop projections.

Both the ruling October and forward December contracts were marked down by 0.75 and 0.87 cents at 54.48 and 56.28 cents per lb, respectively.