KARACHI, July 8: Trading on the cotton market on Saturday remained insipid as spinners remained conspicuous by their absence apparently eyeing the new crop from the lower Sindh cotton belt.

The other negative factors keeping spinners on the sidelines were TCP tender for 42,000 bales, to be opened on July 10, and a persistent decline in New York cotton futures, brokers said.

As a result, the unsold stock of the current crop lying with the ginners is being neglected as some of the leading ginners are not inclined to lower their asking prices because of quality premiums, they added.

“The TCP, which will be holding stocks of about 75,000 bales after the current offer, may float couple of more tenders to dispose of its holdings to resume new crop procurement operations if prices fall below the official support rates,” ginners said.

That was perhaps why some of the ginners from the lower Sindh cotton belt had lowered their prices around Rs2,550 as no one among them was inclined to hold long unsold positions owing to a bearish future price outlook, market sources said.

They said some of the leading spinners were also exploring the possibility of lint import as a progressive fall in New York cotton futures around 50 cents per lb had made import competitive.

However, spinners would prefer to lift all the unsold stocks lying with TCP and the southern Punjab ginners before opting for imports to fill-in supply gaps if any before the normal arrival of the new crop, they added.

Meanwhile, spinners and mills were awaiting the announcement of the textile package expected to be announced on July 17, which they hoped would enhance their buying capacity from the open market.

In the absence of any stable feedback from the ready business, official spot rates were again held unchanged at the previous rate of Rs2,600 per maund.

But on the other hand New York cotton futures remained under pressure on speculative selling and fell further by 1.65 and 1.10 cents at 47.50 and 50.05 cents per lb for both the matured July and October settlements respectively.

Ready off-take was light as some odd lots both from the central Punjab and belts changed hands around Rs2,550 and Rs2,600 per maund.