October 18, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 24, 1427

KARACHI, Oct 17: The cotton market on Tuesday remained under pressure as ginners continued to liquidate long positions in an effort to clear the backlog of unsold stocks ahead of Eid holidays.

And in the process, prices further eased by another Rs25 maund depending on quality and staple length of lint in trade, brokers said.

But the main pressure was on the Sindh lint amid rumours of damage to the quality owing to late rain in the cotton belt. Some of the deals in it were done as low as Rs2,300 per maund.

Floor brokers said spinners and mills were active buyers at the falling prices and lifted all the lots offered for sale by the ginners apparently in a bit haste.

“The prevailing confusion in the cotton trade is based on some rumours relating to quality of the lint and higher crop ideas,” they said, adding: “The quality of lint may be partly affected by late rain in Sindh but is said to be in line with spinners’ spinning standard as was reflected by active buying at the decline.”

But beyond the central and lower Sindh cotton belt, the lint in the upper Sindh is said to be of high quality, matching its counterpart in the southern Punjab, they added.

Picking operations in the upper Sindh cotton belt have just resumed and tradable lots will be for sale for the next couple of sessions.

Official spot rates were revised downward by Rs25 at Rs2,375 but some of the deals in the ready section were done well below them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand rose by 0.17 and 0.02 cents per lb at 49.18 and 52.45 for both the ruling December and the distant

March contracts, respectively.

Ready offtake was on the higher side totalling 20,000 bales, including some big deals, the following being some the notable deals:

SINDH TYPE: 1,000 bales, Shahdadpur and 600 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,350; 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,325; and 1,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,300.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,200 bales, Alipur, 2,000 bales, Rajanpur, 1,000 bales, Haroonabad and 200 bales each Kot Addu and Jalalpur at Rs2,425; 200 bales, Burewala at Rs2,375; 400 bales, Vehari at Rs2,390 to Rs2,400; 200 bales, Hasilpur at Rs2,390; 600 bales, Chistian at Rs2,375 to Rs2,400; 500 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,415 to Rs2,425; 200 bales, Ghaziabad at Rs2,375; 400 bales, Layyah at Rs2,400; 400 bales, Gelawali at Rs2,440; and 300 bales, Liaquatpur at Rs2,425.