KARACHI, Aug 27: Trading on the cotton market on Monday resumed on a steady note as spinners and mills continued to cover their positions against forward sales to a number of countries.

Ginners were also not inclined to hold onto their long unsold positions amid conflicting reports of damage to the crop and erratic arrivals of phutti into the ginneries depending on the whims of the growers.

Most of the deals in Sindh type were finalised at the weekend level of Rs2,950 to Rs2,975, while in Punjab the selling rate was Rs3,100 per maund.

Floor brokers said active ready off-take at the current levels reflected that spinners were out to grab the floating stock at the current rates amid fears that prices could rise during the subsequent weeks.

But it goes to the credit of spinners who are holding the current price line amid reports of a below target crop owing to pest attack in some areas of the Punjab, they said.

However, spinners were worried about the quality of the lint if the pest attack was not controlled during the next couple of weeks that may also have negative impact on the export prices, they added.

Sometime growers dump phutti like anything and some time hold back it in apparent effort to keep the market under their control, says a ginner from the central Sindh cotton belt.

However, the last week’s rain in some of the areas in Sindh had caused the suspension of picking operations for about a week, brokers said.

Official spot rates were again held unchanged at the previous level of Rs2,925 per maund.

Ready off-take was on the higher side totalling about 10,000 bales as under:

SINDH TYPE: 2,000 bales, Tando Adam and 1,500 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,925-Rs2,950, 2,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,900-2,950, 400 bales, Shahpur Chakkar at Rs2,940, 200 bales, Khadro at Rs2,950 and 200 bales, Hyderabad at Rs2,900.