KARACHI, Aug 29: Cotton market on Wednesday maintained its upward trend as spinners and mills were not inclined to take even a technical breather and lifted all the lots offered by the ginners.

But ready off-take was relatively slow as some of the ginners in the entire cotton belt observed holiday on account of Shab-e-Barat, while some others were willing to sale at the prevailing prices.

“Lint prices seem to have stabilised between Rs2,975 and 3,125 per maund for both Sindh and the Punjab types depending on the quality of lint in trade, and larger daily volumes indicate that the current levels are in line with spinners’ export parity rates,” said a broker.

The other contributory factor, which halted speculative price flare-up, was reports of a higher crop and washing off the mealybugs from the standing crop owing to recent rain, they said.

The pest damage has been minimised, to a great extent, as the rain came at the breeding stage and controlled the attack, which otherwise should have caused an extensive damage to the Punjab crop, they added.

Market sources said the recent recovery staged by the New York cotton futures may not have a sympathetic impact on the local price line as local supply and demand factors are expected to dominate the trading.

Meanwhile, reports reaching here from the cotton belt indicate that pace of arrivals of phutti into the ginneries has increased as growers are not inclined to hold on to their unsold stocks and fix the price of phutti the same day on cash basis. There are no reports of unfixed phutti in most of the leading ginneries.

Official spot rates were, therefore, firmly held at the overnight level of Rs2,925 per maund but most of the deals were done well above them depending on quality.

New York cotton futures on the other hand recovered 0.37 and 0.51 cents per lb at 55.52 and 57.48 for both the ruling October and forward December contracts, respectively.

The following some of the notable deals reported by the brokers: 800 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,975 to 3,000, 400 bales, Sultanabad, at Rs2,975.

About 5,000 bales from various Punjab ginneries changed hands at Rs3,125 plus depending on quality of lint.

The following are Wednesday’s new crop Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) official spot rates for local dealings in Pak rupees for base grade 3 staple length 1-1/32” micronair value between 3.8 to 4.9 NCL.

Rate for Ex-Gin Price Up-country Spot rate

Expenses Ex-Karachi

37.324 kgs 2,925 50 2,975.00

Equivalent

40 kgs 3,135 50 3,185.00