KARACHI, Nov 17: Cotton market on Monday maintained firm trend amid strong mill buying ahead of entry of the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) in cotton trading as a second major buyer to ensure a fair price to the growers.

But analyst said the TCP may not resume lint procurement operations before the new year under the policy perceptions and it will first allow the buyers to cover their maximum annual consumption needs.

Another factor behind the delayed operations could be conflicting reports about the size of the crop as it will be clear early next year after the PCGA released arrival figures of seed cotton for the fortnight ending on Jan 1, 2009, they said.

Already, spinners and mills are making near-panic buying daily after the news of TCP’s entry into the cotton trade was officially announced.

Floor brokers said the current prices will receive a major upward push after the TCP resumes its operations and that factor in view spinners are not inclined to take even a technical breather fearing an imminent flare-up.

The mill buying by the end of the current month will touch the high 5.5 million bales plus and that reflects the spinners’ perception about the developing situation on the national cotton front, they added.

Both lint and phutti (seed cotton) prices have stabilised well above the benchmark of Rs3,000 per maund since the news of the TCP entry into the cotton trade and are steadily rising on active daily mill intake, they added.

As a result, official spot rates were further revised upward by Rs50 per maund at Rs 3,000.

Mills ready off-take was on the higher side totaling about 25,000 bales mostly done at an average rate of Rs3,100 barring some inferior lots from the central Sindh cotton belt, which were traded between Rs2,800 to 2,900, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH VARIETY: 800 bales, upper Sindh at Rs3,100, 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,850 to 2,900, 400 bales, Khipro at 2,875, 800 bales, Tando Adam at 2,880 to 2,900, 800 bales, Nawabshah at 2,850, 800 bales, each Mirpurkhas and Shahdadpur at 2,850 to 3,000.

PUNJAB TYPE: 1,000 bales, each Bahawalpur, Alipur, D.G. Khan, Shaden Lund, Kabirwala, 1,200 bales each, Rajanpur and Liaquatpur, 2,000 bales, Khanewal and 1,200 bales, Vehari at 3,000 to 3,100, 600 bales, each, Fazilpur, Ahmedpur East, Noorpur, Lodhran, Shujaabad, and 400 bales each, Mubarkpur, Muridwala, and Sadiqabad at 3,100.