KARACHI, Sept 15: Cotton market on Saturday consolidated the overnight gains as ginners held on to their positions in an apparent effort to keep prices within the current range.

But in physical trading some of the deals both in the Sindh and the Punjab varieties were finalised slightly below Rs2,900 per maund, floor brokers said.

They said phutti arrivals into the ginneries had shown an impressive increase in the last two days as some of the leading growers were virtually dumping their stocks at a bit lower levels fearing further fall in prices.

“But now ginners are holding the price line,” some others said, adding “after having purchased phutti around Rs1,400 per 40 kg some of the ginners are trapped in the price differentials and holding on to their unsold stocks to sell them at their parity levels”.

The other aiding factor was fresh increase in New York cotton futures which was expected to have positive impact on the prices elsewhere.

However, most cotton analysts believe the local market will be guided by the supply and demand factors and may not be influenced by the international price outlook.

“Local prices generally react to the world rates if the local crop is short and spinners and mills opt for foreign lint for various reasons primarily for quality stuff,” they added.

According to initial reports the crop is satisfactory and is well in line with official projections of 14m plus bales leaving no room for the speculative trading at this stage and that is perhaps why prices are stable around Rs2,900 per maund or slightly below depending on quality.

Meanwhile, private sector cotton exporters registered a total of 9,851 bales foreign sales contracts with the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) during the Aug 1 to Sept 7 comprising both old and new crop, out of which 8,179 bales had already been shipped out to various destinations.

Official spot rates were again quoted unchanged at the last level of Rs2,800 per maund, while New York cotton futures on the other hand rose by 0.67 and 0.76 cents per lb at 60.92 and 63.61 cents for both the ruling October and the forward December settlements respectively.

Mill ready off-take was relatively slow apparently for price reasons totalled 8,000 bales.

SINDH TYPE: 2,000 bales, Tando Adam and 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,875 to Rs2,900, 2,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,900 and 600 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,850 to Rs2,875.

PUNJAB VARIRTY: 400 bales Burewala at Rs2,900, 600 bales, Chichawatni, 400 bales each Mian Channu, Sahiwal and Bahawalnagar at Rs2,875.