KARACHI, May 11: Trading on the cotton market on Thursday remained slow as ginners and spinners were locked in a price war to tilt the balance in their respective favour.

Floor brokers said the latter maintained an upper hand as no one among them obliged to buy at Rs2,500 per maund demanded by some of the leading ginners, who still hold few lots of fine lint.

Spinners though indulged in big-lot business lifting all the lots offered by combined ginneries around Rs2,475 per maund but some of the ginners still entertain ideas of higher prices based on supply and demand factors, they added.

“Reports of irrigation water problems at the time of sowing of new crop worried spinners amid fears of another below target size of the crop,” they said.

Ginners who are holding bulk of the unsold stock of 0.750m bales are watching the unfolding of the new situation on the sowing front and hope that it could lead to an imminent price flare-up in the coming weeks.

Spinners fear another short crop without a buffer stock could have negative impact on the economy as a whole and textile exports may be worst-hit during the next year.

They said the TCP should be directed by the government to suspend further sales of its unsold stocks until the situation on the irrigation water front is clear.

Official spot rates were, therefore, firmly held at the overnight level in the absence of active mill buying owing to higher asking prices.

New York cotton futures on the other hand were further marked down by 0.69 and 0.58 cents at 50.44 and 53.27 cents per lb for both the ruling July and the new crop October settlements respectively.

Ready off-take was modest totalling 5,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals: 2,000 bales, Gothki, Mirpur Mathelo and Dharki at Rs2,450 and 1,500 bales, Fazalpur at Rs2,475.