KARACHI, Jan 2: New year’s trading on the cotton market started on an insipid note as spinners and mills kept to the sidelines most of the time apparently haunted by delivery problems.

But needy among them made modest covering purchases for ready delivery from those who held their unsold stocks in the city godowns above the official spot rates, brokers said.

Floor brokers said centre of physical activity seemed to shift to Punjab ginneries, notably to southern Punjab where bulk of the unsold stocks was held by ginners.

Reports coming from there indicate that trading there is fairly active as the spinners are lifting a substantial quantity of bales as transport problems there are not that acute, they said.

But local brokers said that ready business here might remain dull during the sessions preceding Eid holidays and the local spinners were inclined to go in a big way for forward buying as anything could happen during the holidays.

Eid is over a week away but those spinners who are ensured prompt delivery by the ginners are in the market and are lifting modest lots at around Rs2,400 per maund.

Meanwhile, private sector exporters have physically shipped 0.103m bales during the last three months ending October 2005 against forward sales of 0.130m bales, according to official figures.

But some of them are now keeping to the sidelines owing to higher local prices, which are claimed to be a bit higher against the export parity level, market sources said.

The cotton trade is free under the existing policy, and imports and exports of the lint are allowed to the private sector and mills. The spinners and mills have imported 0.106m bales of long staple lint from various countries for blending purposes to product higher counts of cotton yarn, they said.

Official spot rates were, therefore, quoted unchanged at the weekend levels in the absence of active mill buying and higher asking prices by the ginners.

Ready offtake was modest and was confined to upper Sindh ginneries, notably Gothki, Dharki, Mirpur Mathelo and some others and totalling 2,000 bales done at Rs2,400 to Rs2,425 per maund.