April 24, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 06, 1428

KARACHI, April 23: Trading on the cotton market on Monday resumed on a cheerless note as buyers remained conspicuous by their absence owing to higher asking prices by the ginners.

But some local brokers said stray lots from the southern Punjab cotton belt did change hands between Rs2,750 and Rs2,800 per maund depending on the quality of lint.

They said reports of seven per cent increase in the textile export during the current year should have kept spinners and mills in the business but their continued absence from the physical trading worried some of the ginners.

Spinners said overall conditions on the export front for textiles are not that encouraging amid falling prices and tough competition from the other producers.

“The major issue is that textile products are being offered much lower prices by the foreign buyers which are even below our production cost which has gone up following higher local lint prices,” they added.

Market sources said spinners and mills were eyeing the foreign lint after New York May contract fell below the benchmark of 50 cents per lb, which incidentally was in line with their export parity levels.

According to them some of the leading spinners and mills had made forward deals for about 0.2m bales from various sources for early shipments.

However, there was no possibility of fall in prices of local lint based on supply and demand factors.

Official spot rates were again held unchanged at the last level of Rs2,725 per maund in the absence of any feedback from the ready market.

Unconfirmed reports said stray lots of Punjab lint changed hands but details were not available.