September 23, 2006	Saturday	Sha'aban 29, 1427

KARACHI, Sept 22: Cotton prices on Friday eased from the overnight higher levels followed by reports of panic-selling by some of the growers in the central Sindh cotton belt.

In physical trading, most of the deals in Sindh variety were finalised at the lower levels, ranging from Rs25 to Rs50 per maund but price of the Punjab lint ruled steady around the previous levels, brokers said.

Reports of more than average arrivals of phutti into the Sindh ginneries seems to have sent bearish signals to growers and their weaker links sold in panic, they added.

According to reports reaching here from the central Sindh cotton belt phutti prices are have steadily fallen from the seasonal peak level of Rs1,400 per 40 kg to Rs1,100 and in stray cases below this levels as growers are not inclined to await a rebound.

There was, however, no apparent bearish reason behind the grower panic, dealers said, most of them seem to be following the lead of others without ascertaining the actual position.

Conflicting reports about the size of the crop in the absence of official word is keeping the market unsettled, although it has no relevance to supply and demand factors.

Some local ginners also claim damage to quality of phutti in the Sindh cotton belt owing to rain forcing the growers to lower their selling prices fearing further fall.

Meanwhile, private sector exporters up to Sept 15 had registered export contracts for 25,589 bales with the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) against which 7,129 bales had already been shipped.

Official spot rates were revised downward by Rs25 per maund at Rs2,575, but some of the deals were done well below this rate.

New York cotton futures also fell by 0.20 and 0.36 cents at 49.90 and 51.98 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the distant December settlements respectively.

Unlike the previous sessions, ready business was on the lower side as leading ginners held on to their stocks rather than selling them at the lower levels. The following are some of the deals which gone through on Friday evening.

SINDH VARIETY: 600 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,535 to Rs2,540, 600 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,525 to Rs2,540, 400 bales, Khipro at Rs2,535, 600 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,585 to Rs2,590, 200 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,535 and 400 bales, Shahpur Chakkar at Rs2,570 to Rs2,575.

PUNJAB TYPE: 800 bales, Hasilpur at Rs2,665 to Rs2,685, 200 bales, Fort Abbas, at Rs2,665, 200 bales, each Mamon Kanjan and Patoki at Rs2,650, 200 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,660, 200 bales, Kabirwala at Rs2,675 and 200 bales, Pir Mahal at Rs2,670.