KARACHI, Feb 13: Cotton prices fell further on Wednesday by Rs25 per maund as some ginners holding stray lots remained sellers, but there was no matching buying support from spinners.

Stray lots did change hands, both in inferior and fine lots, as prices offered by mills and spinners were mostly quality-based and at lower levels, floor brokers said.

For instance, they said, some fine lots from the upper Sindh cotton belt were sold at Rs100 per maund lower at Rs3,200 per maund as compared to identical fine quality lots from the southern Punjab ginneries, which are being sold around Rs3,300 per maund.“The cotton trade is seemingly slipping out of the control of ginners as falling mill demand is increasing their overheads each and some of them have decided to bail themselves out from the long oversold positions,” said a leading cotton analyst.He said leading ginners, both in the upper Sindh and the southern Punjab ginneries, are still holding on to an unsold stock of 1.5 million bales, which means that a big amount of Rs20 billion is tied to it.

Many among them may not have a long holding capacity and added to it are increasing overhead costs, he said, adding “some of them have decided to liquidate long positions in part in an effort to avert a major fall.”

“This perhaps is for the first time that ginners could not benefit from the windfall profits generally a short crop ensured for them,” said a broker.

He said spinners and mills are also at the receiving end as they failed to get competitive prices for the end products on the world markets because of price manipulation by importers having a fair choice to choose from other supply sources.

Official spot rates were further lower by Rs25 at Rs3,100 as some of the deals were done at slightly above depending on quality.

New York cotton futures also eased further by 0.14 and 0.21 cents per lb at 67.02 and 68.80, respectively, for both the maturing March and the forward May settlements.

The following are some of the deals which were finalised late on Wednesday evening: 1,000 bales, Kotri Kabir at Rs3,100; 2,000 bales each Shahdadpur and Gothki at 3,200.