KARACHI, June 24: Cotton market on Friday passed through another lean session as physical business remained at a low ebb, although some of the local spinners still needed modest supplies before the arrival of the new crop.

Floor brokers said reports of inter-mill dealings both on cash and credit basis were reported as some mills holding more than their actual consumption needs sold in part at the higher levels before the new crop arrives.

However, reports that leading spinners had taken delivery of 0.176m bales imported from various countries to meet the expanding post-WTO demand of the textile sector, they said.

“The January import figure of 0.176m bales is too tall to digest in one go”, one ginner said “the local crop of 14m bales was claimed to be in line with the annual consumption needs of the textile sector”, he added.

Owing to a massive expansion and modernization of the textile industry costing about $4 billion, and active demand of valued added textiles in the world markets, the intake of the mills could hit the high mark of 15m bales as is evident from the import figure.

Textile sources said spinners and mills had made forward deals for about half a million bales from various countries below 45 cents per lb, and shipments against which have started.

Total imports of the foreign lint since Aug 31, 2004 amounted to over a million bales including the January figure of 0.176m bales, they said.

Some more shipments are in the pipeline and are expected to reach here by the end of the next month. Already, spinners and mills are actively participating in the TCP weekly auctions apparently to build-up strong stock position.

Official spot rates did not show any change as stray lots in the ready section changed hands in line with them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand staged a smart rally on strong support aided by rolling of positions from June to July contracts. While the matured July rose by 2.14 cents at 49.65 cents, the ruling October settlement ended at 51.94 cents per lb, higher by 1.29 cents.