KARACHI, May 7: Cotton prices on Tuesday fell sharply as ginners indulged in near-panic selling disappointed apparently by larger unsold stocks and falling mill demand.

But the lowering of selling prices by the ginners provided the much needed bait to the spinners who flooded the market and lifted all the lots offered for sale.

“Just in a couple of hours about 20,000 bales changed hands as spinners came in from all the corners as no one among them was inclined to miss the falling market”, brokers said.

Some of the deals were finalized as lower as Rs1,300 depending on the quality of lint in trade, while the highest price of Rs1,600 per maund was paid for fine lots.

A near-panic prevailed among the ginners after the release of the arrival figures of phutti for the fortnight ended April 30, as larger unsold stocks worried them in the backdrop of falling demand from the spinners.

The other disturbing news originating from the apex body of ginners was that the spinners have already imported 1.2m bales of lint from the foreign sources and may play safe in the coming weeks adding further to their overheads including bank interest.

“Ginners’ holding capacity seems to be fading out under the weight of long positions and leading among them opted for hasty selling and their lead was actively followed by the others”, brokers said.

The market may or may not come under further pressure during the next couple of sessions, one thing is clear that spinners are buyers any amount of lots at the lower levels, they added.

It was perhaps in this background that the spot rates were lowered by Rs25 but most of the deals in the ready section were done well below them.

After having fallen sharply lower during the last couple of sessions, New York cotton futures showed modest recovery as both the maturing May and the distant July settlements finished recovered by 0.15 and 0.13 cents per lb at 32.05 and 33.65 cents per lb respectively.

Ready offtake was fairly brisk as till late in the evening about 20,000 bales including some big lots changed hands as under:

SINDH TYPE: 9,000 bales, Moro at Rs1,500.00, 3,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs1,400, on credit, 500 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs1,500, 500 bales, Khairpur at Rs1,500, 500 bales, Setharja at Rs1,500 and 200 bales, Dharki at Rs1,600.