KARACHI, July 19: Trading on the cotton market on Monday resumed on a cheerless note as spinners again kept to the sidelines despite lower offering by the ginners. Official spot rates were, therefore, further marked down by Rs25, for average quality lint but there was no positive response from the mills and spinners.

There was no trace of spinner presence in the market after last week's hectic buying at the falling prices as they withdrew to the sidelines apparently to take stock of their inventories, brokers said.

"Turmoil on the world textile market in the backdrop of massive battering of the New York cotton futures for the last couple of weeks and the consequent decline in yarn prices, exports are literally held up," claims spinner.

"Some of our traditional trading partners for the last couple of decades also held up confirmed letters of credit, forcing us to revise prices in line with the prevailing rates," they said.

Shipments against the letters of credit for the last quarter of the previous year ended June 30, 2004 or the first quarter for the current fiscal are far below the normal export figure for a number of reasons but mainly the price factor.

"After having buying lint at much higher rates, both from the local as well foreign markets, it is not that easy to lower prices," spinners said adding "it will mean massive losses in foreign exchange."

Meanwhile, reports coming in from the cotton belts from the official monitoring sources indicate the growth of the new crop is satisfactory and there are no reports of pest attacks stray incidents notwithstanding.

Picking operation of phutti in the lower Sindh and the central Punjab cotton belts are fairly steady but most of the ginners are awaiting further arrivals before the resumption of new season ginning operations, market source said adding "some of them have already resumed ginning on a modest scale."

Ready offtake was light as till late in the evening about 1,500 bales, from the central and upper Sindh ginneries changed hands between Rs2,350 to 2,400 per maund depending on quality.