KARACHI, Aug 3: Trading on the cotton market on Thursday remained slow as spinners and mills kept to the sidelines because of delivery problems in the backdrop of an extended monsoon rain spell.

But unlike the previous sessions, prices of new crop from the lower Sindh ginneries were quoted lower by Rs25 apparently in the absence of mill demand, dealers said.

They said spinners and mills are not making fresh commitments because of delivery problems and higher freight rates being demanded by the cargo haulers as buyers are not inclined to receive rain-soaked consignments, which damage the quality of cotton yarn.

Owing to rain the lower Sindh cotton belt, both picking operations of phutti and arrivals remained virtually suspended for the last couple of sessions curtailing daily mill intake, floor brokers said.

Reports reaching here from the central Sindh cotton belt where the new crop is still in the initial growth stage indicate stray instances of damage to the tender plants, while in lower Sindh excessive moisture in the open phutti heaps in the ginneries is feared to be damaging the quality of lint, they added.

However, in upper Sindh and southern Punjab cotton belt where the rainfall is said to be normal the growth of the new crop is normal and stray rain is beneficial for the standing crop.

Meanwhile, private sector exporters have registered some more consignments with the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), which lifted the to 0.347m bales up to July 31, 2006.

Official spot rates were again held at the last level of Rs2,500 per maund in the absence of positive feedback from the ready market.

New York cotton futures on the other hand showed fractional fall of 0.10 and 0.07 cents at 54.83 and 56.69 cents per lb for both the ruling October and December settlements.Ready off-take was light as till late in the evening only a lot of 400 bales from Tando Adam changed hands at Rs2,475 per maund.