February 24, 2008	Sunday	Safar 16, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 23: The cotton market finished the weekend session on a bullish note as prices were quoted further higher by Rs25 per maund, making the total increase during the last two sessions to Rs75.

“It may be a belated spinner reaction to a short crop,” market sources said. But they added that “the immediate reason behind the snap price flare-up in a relatively dull market was four-year increase in the New York cotton futures.”

For the second session in a row, New York cotton futures were quoted further higher by 2.39 cents per lb for the maturing March contract and 0.85 cents for the ruling May delivery, followed by reports of reports that global production may lag far behind the demand, they added.

The other contributory aiding factors were pressure on supply of fine lots of lint and delay in arrival of consignments from India for various reasons.

“I think the cotton trade has slipped out of the grip of spinners and mills who are playing dual game with ginners never allowing them to benefit from the spoils of a short crop,” one broker said, adding “now is turn of the ginners who still hold an unsold stock of well over 1.5m bales in their godowns to name their own prices.”

The fact that some of the leading spinners and mills are inclined to pay as high a price as Rs3,400 for quality lint indicates that the price war among them has just resumed which will benefit the ginners, he added.

“Lint prices may not hit the previous all-time high level of Rs4,000 per maund after the crop hit the below 10m bales mark about two decades back, but they could certainly rise to a recent peak level of Rs3,650 per maund,” said a leading analyst.

According to them, some of the ginners who hold premium lots were, however, not inclined to sell them below Rs3,400 for the time being.

Official spot rates were quoted further higher by Rs25 at Rs3,175 per maund, but in physical trading quality lots were sold at much higher levels.

Mill ready off-take was modest totaling about 5,000 bales as under: 2,400 bales, Rahim Yar Khan at Rs3,100 to 3,400, 400 bales, Khanpur at Rs3,400, 1,000 bales, Sadiqabd at 3,100, 200 bales, Vehari at 3,100 and 400 bales, and Haroonabad at 3,350.