KARACHI, March 12: Cotton prices on Monday eased by Rs25 per maund from the weekend levels owing to quality differentials for the average lots from the central Sindh ginneries.

But fine lots both from the upper Sindh and the southern Punjab cotton belts were traded around Rs2,600 per maund also lower from the past week’s peak level of Rs2,700 per maund, brokers said.

They said the notable feature was that big-lot business was witnessed a leading spinner group tried to corner fine lots from the upper Sindh ginneries at the lower asking prices.

A big-lot of 10,000 bales, from Rohri and Salehpat area was sold at Rs2,600 as leading local spinner group opted to upper Sindh fine lint after southern Punjab ginners were not inclined to lower their selling prices, they added.

Having large unsold inventories owing to problems on the export front, spinners seem to have linked their daily intake to export to save on financial costs, they added.

“Leading ginners with large unsold stock are steadily holding on to their positions on the perception that a short crop could push prices further higher,” says a leading broker “steep fall and rise in daily mill intake reflects a price war between the spinners and the ginners is at its peak”.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the Punjab ginneries indicate that bulk of low-mic lint stocks have been exhausted and leading ginners who have the holding capacity after meeting bank demands are holding on to their positions.

It was perhaps in this background that official spot rates were lowered by Rs25 to Rs2,550 per maund from Rs2,575.

Apart from a big deal of 10,000 bales, mill ready offtake was light totalling about 2,000 bales as under: 400 bales, Hala at Rs2,400 and 1,000 bales, Khanpur at Rs2,625.