May 01, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1429

KARACHI, April 30: Physical activity on the cotton market on Wednesday remained slow as spinners lifted only those lots, which conformed to their export parity levels and were of good quality, floor brokers said.

But some of the local spinners were in the market and sought modest quantities of inferior lots for blending purposes with the polyester fibre to produce blended yarn and cloth for export, floor brokers said.

They said owing to higher rates of lint cotton, mills and spinners have increased the use of polyester fibre, which, lowers the cost of production and makes end-product competitive on the foreign markets.

Leading spinners claim all is not well on the textile export front because of various reasons, notably higher lint prices and input costs and both the factors are making textiles uncompetitive.

“The short local crop and higher imports of lint cotton from various countries has significantly strained our financial positions, which in turn has a negative impact on our foreign exchange earnings,” they added.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the major cotton growing belts both in Sindh and Punjab indicate that farmers after harvesting wheat crop are preparing land for the cotton.

According to official sources, sowing of the new crop is expected to be resumed by May 15, and will end on June 15, said to be an ideal climatic condition for a healthy crop.

Reports from the world cotton markets were bearish as the New York cotton futures again quoted lower by 0.95 and 1.01 cents per lb for both the maturing May and the new crop July contracts at 68.18 and 70.45 cents per lb.

Official spot rates on the other hand did not show any change and were firmly held at the last level of Rs3,375 per maund.

Mill ready off-take was on the lower side, around 2,000 bales as under: 1,000 bales, Setharja at Rs3,400 and 600 bales, Liaquatpur at Rs3,275.