KARACHI, July 17: Active trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Tuesday as mills and spinners lifted all the new crop lots offered by the ginners of both Sindh and Punjab.

Floor brokers said spinners seem to have decided the follow the price line set by the ginners as their attempts during the last couple of sessions failed to outwit them on the price front as they have to follow their parity levels.

“After having purchased phutti at the higher rate of Rs1,400 per 40 kg, Rs400 above the official support price of Rs1,025, ginners are in no hurry to sell their stocks at a lower price,” they said.

Moreover, bales being rolled out by the ginners are far below the demand of the textile sector as all the ginneries have not resumed operations in both the belts.

As a result, ginners are not inclined to sell the lower Sindh stuff below Rs2.950 to 3,000 and central Punjab ginners below Rs3,050 to 3,100 per maund.

Market sources said normal buying operations by the textile sector reflects that spinners have realised the objective conditions will not allow fall in prices at least for the near-term as supply and demand factors will continue to be a guiding force for both the sellers and the buyers.“What seems to have made things more difficult for the textile sector are higher foreign lint prices, which in normal conditions strike a balance between the local and the global rates,” they added.

Meanwhile, picking operations of phutti both in the lower Sindh and the central Punjab are getting normal each day despite fresh rain in some of the Punjab cotton belt areas and lint supplies are expected to show sympathetic improvement.

New York cotton futures showed a modest decline of 0.57 and 0.63 cents per lb at 65.92 and 67.75 cents for both the ruling October and the forward December contracts, respectively.

But local official spot rates did not show a ny change and were quoted at the last level of Rs2,875 per maund.

Mill ready off-take was on the higher side totaling about 3,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH VARIETY: 200 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs3,000, 400 bales, Mirpurkhas at 2,900 to 2,950, 100 and 200 bales, Sanghar and Sultanabad at 2,950.