KARACHI, Jan 18: Brisk activity was witnessed on the cotton market on Thursday as spinners and mills made near-panic buying in the backdrop of latest arrival figures of phutti and their impact on the future price outlook.

Already, signs of an imminent price flare-up were evident as some of the fine lots from the southern Punjab cotton belt were traded as higher as Rs2,625, considered to be seasonal high so far, brokers said.

Fine lots both from the upper Sindh and southern Punjab are expected to remain in strong demand despite the fact that the unsold stocks with the ginners are maintained around the previous fortnight’s level of 2m bales, they added.

But much would depend on the price perceptions of leading textile cartels and how they behave, although all of them feel insecure as far as their stock position is concerned, they said, adding “some of them with firm export commitments and sound financial positions may outwit their weaker links in the coming sessions and the consequent further rise in prices”.

Although figures released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) were in line with the market predictions but what haunted spinners was reports of lower crop in Sindh and its negative impact on supply and demand factors, spinners said.

The fact that even the revised crop total may not be achieved will continue to fuel price flare-up in the coming sessions worried spinner whose export commitments may face some problems as far as physical shipments for the current quarter ending March are concerned, market sources said.

Official spot rates were firmly held unchanged at the overnight level of Rs2,525 although fine lots were traded well above them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand posted fresh fractional rise of 0.14 and 0.16 cents at 55.06 and 55.95 cents per lb for both the ruling March and the distant May contracts respectively.

Ready off-take was on the higher side owing to panic mill buying and totalled about 30,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals;

SINDH VARITY: 3,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,475-2,540, 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,460-2,510 and 2,000 bales, upper Sindh at Rs2,600.