June 19, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 03, 1428

KARACHI, June 18: Physical activity on the cotton market on Monday remained insipid as spinners and mills again adhered to the sidelines apparently awaiting some positive developments on the new crop front.

-----According to market sources ginners are sellers of lint around Rs2,650 per maund on the basis of new crop phutti, which is being quoted around Rs1,150 per 40 kg, well above the official support price of Rs1,025.

Floor brokers said spinners’ perceptions of fall in the existing prices appear to be beyond the scope of prevailing supply and demand factors and ginners, notably those, who hold the bulk of the unsold stock of lint, are well aware about the developing situation on the cotton front.

“They are steadily holding on to their meager unsold stock of 0.105m bales, mostly of fine lots and are not inclined to sell it below Rs2,650 per maund,” they added.

Spinners and mills, however, could not precisely decide whether to go for the foreign lint, which is getting expensive each day or to await for the new crop after having lifted the unsold stocks lying with the ginners, said a leading ginner.

But we are least worried, he said adding, as no major financial risk is involved in holding on to the unsold stock, which in the developing situation could give still better price, he said.

No one could deny the fact that the New York cotton futures are heading for the 60-cent per lb mark on strong speculative trade and foreign buying and “we can wait to see when it happens,” he added.

Meanwhile, reports reaching here from the lower Sindh belt indicate that the picking operations there are well in progress and phutti is arriving in the ginning factories steadily but in modest quantities.

Some of the ginning factories are planning to resume ginning operations after sufficient quantity of phutti arrives, possibly by the middle of the next month to meet the deadline of their forward deals.

Official spot rates were, therefore, firmly held at the weekend level of Rs2,600 per maund but no deal was reported in the ready section.