KARACHI, March 15: Cotton prices on Thursday were marked up by Rs25 per maund as some of the leading spinner groups indulged in big-lot business to corner the unsold stocks.

For the second time during the current season, some big lots from the southern Punjab ginneries changed hands at the seasonal highs of Rs2,700 per maund, floor brokers said.

Some ginners were still holding onto their unsold stocks eyeing further increase in prices in the coming weeks owing to pressure on future supplies, they said.

“The price game based on supply and demand factors appears to have crept into the cotton business,” predicts a leading cotton analyst, adding “the spinners and mills may remain at the receiving end because of a short crop”.“Tactical moves by the spinners and mills to keep prices low may have no relevance to the developing situation on the cotton front now,” he said, adding “spinners and mills still prefer the local stuff for various reasons despite higher asking prices”.

Spinners attributed the slow ready business to some problems on the export front and competitiveness of their products on the world markets owing to higher cost of production.

“Until export conditions on the international markets are improved their daily intake may terribly choppy,” some ginners said.

Owing to revival of mills demand, ginners raised their asking prices and as a result official rates were also raised by Rs25 at Rs2,575 per maund.

New York cotton futures remained under pressure and fell further by 0.06 and 0.11 cents per lb for both the ruling May and distant July contracts at 53.50 and 54.34 cents respectively.

Ready offtake was modest totalling about 10,000 bales as under: 2,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs2,685, 200 bales, New Saeedabad at Rs2,350, 2,000 bales, Khanpur at Rs2,650 and 6,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,700.