KARACHI, Sept 2: Cotton market on Saturday maintained firm outlook as reports of damage to crop continued to haunt spinners and mills some of them are indulging in panic-buying.

While the Sindh type was traded between Rs2,550 to Rs2,600, depending on the quality of lint and staple length, Punjab variety was being sold between Rs2,700 and Rs2,725 per maund, modestly lower as compared to a day earlier.

A decline of Rs25 reflects larger arrivals of phutti into the ginneries and hasty selling by the ginners to pass on the financial risk to the spinners and mills, floor brokers said.

For the fourth session in a row, spinners and mills seem to have made a point to lift all the lots offered by the ginners around the prevailing prices amid fears of fresh increase in prices, they said.

As a result, mill ready off-take was on the higher side as fears of a short crop did not allow them to sit on the sidelines irrespective of price hike.

“Ginners seem to be in firm control of the cotton trade and are guiding the market direction through a remote control device,” analysts said, adding “ginner either raises his asking price or holds back freshly picked up phutti”.

Phutti prices are heading to hit Rs1,200 per 40 kg in the entire cotton belt but ginners are reluctant to buy at too high level, they said.

Official spot rates were revised upward by Rs25 at Rs2,575 but in the ready section some of the deals were finalised well above them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand suffered fresh fall of 0.99 and 1.18 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the forward December contracts respectively.

Ready off-take was active totalling about 10,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals.

SINDH VARIETY: 400 bales, Sultanabad at Rs2,550, 200 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,575, 1,000 bales at Rs2,585, 300 bales, each Kotri and Hyderabad at Rs2,600.