KARACHI, July 16: Physical activity on the cotton market was maintained on the higher side as spinners were not inclined to take even a technical breather and again lifted all the lots offered by ginners well below the recent highs of Rs4,000 per maund.

Another 10,000 bales, both from the lower Sindh and central Punjab ginneries changed hands between Rs3,800 on the lower side and 3,875 per maund on the higher side.

The interesting feature of the Wednesday’s trading was that the Sindh type was again sold at a premium of Rs50 to 75 per maund as a quality premium over its counterpart of the central Punjab lint, floor brokers said.

They said panic mill buying reflects that both spinners and mills are not inclined to take even a calculated risk on the supply front despite the fact that they were buying lint at much higher rates than their export parity levels.

A cartel of leading spinners and mills is still unsure about the size of the crop and the toll the pest attack could take between the final figures, they said.

The steady and above normal arrival of phutti into the ginneries shows that the crop may be around the target despite reports of stray pest attacks here and there, they said.

Unlike the previous season when crop in the Punjab cotton belt was massively hit by the pest attack, and the textile sector had to import well over four million bales from various sources to make the shortfall, above normal arrivals of phutti reflect a safe crop, market sources said.

It was perhaps in this background that the official spot rates were again held unchanged at Rs3,650 per maund.

But on the other hand, New York cotton futures recovered from the recent low and were quoted well above their resistance level of 70 cents and 70.88 and 73.71 cents per lb, up by 1.74 and 1.68 cents for both the ruling October and the distant December contracts, respectively.

Mills ready off-take was on the higher side for the second session in a row, totaling about 10,000 bales.

The following were some of the notable deals per maund:

SINDH TYPE: 200 bales each Hyderabad, Shahdadpur, Tando Adam and Sanghar at Rs3,875.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 400, 200, 500 and 1,000 bales: Chichawatni, Vehari, Pak Pattan and Arifwala at 3,800; 1,400 bales, 400 and 200 bales: Burewala, Mongi Bungalow and Gaggon at 3,850; 200, 600, 200 each, Muridwala, Sahiwal, Haroonabad and Hasilpur at 3,825; and 600, 1,200 and 400 bales: Mian Cahnnu, Arifwala and Gojra at 3800 to 3,825.