KARACHI, Aug 6: Physical trading on the cotton market on Wednesday remained light as both ginners and spinners mostly played safe owing to changing world price outlook.

Trading in the new crop from the Sindh ginneries resumed lower by Rs25 per maund against the previous rates at Rs2,425 per maund, but prices steadily rose to Rs2,465 as mill demand gained in stature.

The day’s highest deal was reported at Rs2,465, although brokers were still unsure about the future market trend. The light ready offtake indicates that both the ginners and the spinners are making guarded commitments, the former anticipating rise in prices owing to reports of damage to crop because of rain, while the latter hopes further fall in prices after the arrivals of phutti into the ginneries get normal.

“Spinners appear to be at the receiving end at least for the near-term until pressure remains on the ready supplies and in the process, prices could rise again from the current lows,” market sources speculate.

The recent persistent decline in the New York cotton futures to well below the 60 cents per lb mark has allowed spinners to curtail their daily intake of the new crop amid hopes that imports now may not be that expensive, brokers said.

They said ginners also followed the international market price trend and lowered their asking prices by about Rs50 per maund depending on the quality of new crop lint in trade, they said.

“The steep decline in the ready business is partly attributed to interruption in ginning operations because of rain and partly to price war between the ginners and the spinners,” they said.

Dealers said although reports of fresh rain were still coming from the central and lower Sindh cotton belt, ginning factories beyond Hyderabad were said to have resumed operations after phutti started arriving from the fields.

Official spot rates were, therefore, again held at the previous levels while in the ready section, some of the deals in new crop were finalized below them.

After having declined sharply over the last couple of sessions, New York cotton futures showed fractional decline of 0.2 and 0.10 cents per lb at 55.93 and 57.38 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the new crop December contracts, respectively.

Ready business was light totalling about 2,500 bales in the new crop of Sindh, the following being some of the notable deals: 500 bales, Tando Allahyar at Rs2,425; 600 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,450; 400 bales, Sultanabad at Rs2,450; and 600 bales, Pithoro at Rs2,465.