KARACHI, May 11: Trading on the cotton market on Wednesday remained slow as some of the ginners tried to dispose of odd lots of inferior lint lying in their godowns to some of the spinners.

Odd lots of 45, 65 or 103 bales, some of them being fine variety were lifted in mopping operations by both the spinners and the private sector exporters, totalling about 2,500 bales, brokers said.

The selling prices fluctuated between Rs2,050 and Rs2,150 per maund in line with the quality of lint involved in trading and brokers said some of the exporters sought more supplies.

Market sources say news from the export front are encouraging as some of the leading private sector exporters up to May 7 have registered 0.732m bales for exports against their forward deals. The total includes a modest quantity of old crop and 0.677m bales of the current crop.

The figure of foreign sales is much higher than the previous couple of years and reflects that local lint is in active demand among the world consumers. Export prices are on the higher side, ensuring a fair profit margin for the exporters.

Some of the leading exporters some weeks back sold a part of their holding to spinners after prices rose to above Rs2,300 but now prefer to honour their foreign commitments, brokers said.

The total physical shipments of the commodity against foreign sales amounted to 0.362m bales and future shipment deadlines are expected to be judiciously maintained as there is no report of pressure on supplies, they said

Most of the private sector exporters covered their forward positions immediately after finalizing export deals, says an exporter.

Further increase in New York cotton futures reinforced the idea that TCP may get a higher price for its auction of 60,000 bales on May 14. Both the maturing May and the ruling July contracts were quoted higher by 0.92 and 0.47 cents per lb at 55.93 and 55.27 cents per lb respectively.

Official ready rates on the other hand were again firmly held at the previous level of Rs2,200 per maund.