KARACHI, Nov 27: Active trading was witnessed on the cotton market on Tuesday as spinners and mills lifted all the lots offered by the ginners at an average rate of Rs3,150 per maund. Some of the fine lots from the southern Punjab ginneries were traded as higher as Rs3,185.

About 25,000 bales, mostly from the Punjab cotton belt changed hands as ginners after having suspended purchase of phutti from the growers are out to clear the backlog of unsold stock of lint of about 1.5m bales, floor brokers said.

Although central Sindh lint was traded well below the average selling rate of its Punjab counterpart, local spinners lifted about 10,000 bales, including some big deal from the Sindh ginneries for blending purposes, they added.

What will be the shape of cotton trade after Dec 1, when ginners are expected to resume buying of clean phutti from the growers, is not clear but some analysts said prices could be lower as they will try to get out of an uncertain market.

They said a persistent decline in the New York cotton futures for the last couple of sessions worried growers fearing a sympathetic decline in the local rates.

“The fall of maturing December contract below the 60-cent mark after having touched the two-decades high of 67 cents is considered a negative factor by the progressive growers who were eyeing the figure of well over Rs1,600 per maund,” they said.

The ruling March contract on the New York Cotton Exchange has also fallen sharply lower to around 65 cents during the last couple of sessions on falling demand and trade selling.

Local official spot rates were, however, again held unchanged at Rs3,075 per maund but most of the deals in the ready section were done well above them.

New York cotton futures on the other hand fell by 1.46 cents per lb for the maturing December contract at 58.61, while the distant March was quoted lower by 0.62 cents at 64.92.

Mills ready off-take was on the other higher side totaling 25,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals.

SINDH TYPE: 2,400 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs3,075 to 3,085, 1,000 bales, Bandhi at 3,050, 800 bales, Hala at 3,085 and 1,000 bales, Khipro at 3,070 to 3,100.