December 20, 2006	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 28, 1427

KARACHI, Dec 19: Cotton market on Tuesday eased from the recent higher levels as some of the ginners from the southern Punjab lowered their selling prices for the lower grade lint.

Floor brokers said fine varieties, however, were sold around Rs2,600 per maund but inferior type from the central Punjab was traded as lower as Rs2,500 per maund.

They said lower unsold stocks with ginners and a considerable fall in the arrivals of phutti into the ginneries could push prices higher, notably for the fine lots as leading spinners groups are after them.

Inferior types could ease further from the recent levels as some of the ginners who had completed their ginning operations may like to clear the backlog well in time, they added.

Although latest arrival figures of phutti for the fortnight ended Dec 15, were marginally higher by 0.9 per cent at 10.228m bales as compared to last year’s 10.219m bales, the flow during this period from fields to the ginneries was lower by about 20,000 bales, they said.

“The fall in arrivals may not necessarily reflect falling stocks of phutti with the ginners but they indicate the crop is too short to meet the local demand,” they said.

Out of the total mill purchases were on the higher side at about 8m bales as compared to last year’s comparable figure of 7.436m bales, leaving an unsold stock of 2.211m bales with the ginners as compared to previous year’s 2.729m bales. Exporters purchased 74,350 bales against last year’s total of 54,600 bales.

Official spot rates were lowered by Rs25 per maund for average quality at Rs2,525 after several weeks amid reports that the quality of lint in some of the areas was below average. Mill ready off-take was on the higher side totalling about 20,000 bales as under:

SINDH VARIETY: 1,500 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,450-2,540, 1,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,500-2,550 and 2,000 bales, Dadu at Rs2,515.

PUNJAB TYPE: 4,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan, 2,000 bales, Sadiqabad, 1,000 bales, Khanpur and 400 bales, Bagho Bahar at Rs2,600 and 1,000 bales, Bahawalnagar and 500 bales, Sahiwal at Rs2,500.