KARACHI, May 5: Trading on the cotton market on Monday remained insipid as spinners and mills kept to the sidelines most of the time apparently having an overview of the final crop figures, floor brokers said.

Mill ready off-take was, therefore, on the lower side as ginners were not inclined to sell fine lots below Rs3,600 per maund for prompt delivery, they said, adding stray lots did change hands on quality basis.

“Spinners are in two minds about the future price outlook and are mostly playing safe in an apparent effort to keep prices within the current levels,” floor brokers said, adding that is perhaps why they are reluctant buyers beyond Rs3,500 per maund.

After having imported lint worth Rs2 billion during the last couple of months at varied rates between 65 and 71 cents per lb, spinners had built-up fairly long stock positions after it was known that the crop is short, they added.

“Together with spinners and mills’ local purchases of lint amounting to about 11 million bales, the total supplies rose to about 15 million bales, enough to meet the demand of the local industry,” they said.

But spinners claim their annual consumption needs of lint had swelled to around 17m bales, despite the fact that some of the mills have closed down their operation owing to higher lint prices, market sources said.

They said an unsold stock of 0.535 million bales lying with the ginners could trigger panic buying from those spinners who are mostly relying on the local stuff and did not opt for imports.

It was perhaps on this ground that official spot rates were again held unchanged at Rs3,350 per maund in the absence of positive signals from the ready market, they added.

The following are some of the deals, which gone through late on Monday evening: 1,400 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs3,400, and 200 bales, Khanpur at Rs3,600.