KARACHI, Feb 3: Cotton market on Thursday maintained a bullish outlook on strong mill buying followed by reports of below market arrivals of phutti into the ginneries for the fortnight ended Jan 31.

The crop figure has touched the all-time high mark of 14m bales as was widely speculated, ensuring a modest export surplus after meeting the home demand of about 12m bales plus.

The arrivals during the next couple of fortnight could add modestly to the total of 14m bales, but the talk of a 15m figure appears to be speculative as the arrival figure of 0.255m bales during the last fortnight indicates, brokers said.

"What seems to have pushed the total to a record level is higher per acre yield, absence of pest attack and judicious spraying operations carried by the growers," market sources said.

All the leading members of the cotton trade including growers, mill and the TCP stand to gain in their own way as the production glut did not depressed the market and the strong presence of TCP did not allow any price manipulation from any quarter, they said.

Arrivals of phutti have dried up since the middle of the last month and most of the ginners have already completed their seasonal operations for the current year, dealers said.

Out of the total of 14.016m bales, mills have purchased 10.535m bales, leaving an unsold stock of 1.422m bales, which is a bit higher against the previous figure, indicating slow mill intake after the TCP has completed its procurement target of 2.5m bales.

Floor brokers said ginners have raised their asking prices on the perception that lower arrival figures could well mean stepped up mill buying and the consequent increase in prices.

Already a big deal from the upper Sindh cotton belt indicates that ginners have already raised their prices as a lot of 4,000 bales was sold at Rs2,175 to 2,200 per maund.

Reports from the New York cotton futures were also bullish as both the ruling March and the distant May settlements have posted fresh gains of 0.39 and 0.43 cents per lb at 44.27 and 45.75 cents per lb respectively. Local official spot rates were also upped by Rs25 per maund to Rs2,100, in sympathy with the ready rates.

Ready off-take was active totalling 20,000 bales, mostly from the Punjab ginneries. The following being some of the notable deals; 1,500 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,100 to Rs2,150, 1,000 bales, Liaquatpur at Rs2,100 to Rs2,125, 2,000 bales, Khanpur at Rs2,150 to Rs2,200, 1,400 bales, Jalalpur at Rs2,150 to Rs2,175, 800 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,100, 400 bales, Mangi Banglow at Rs2,150, 600 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,175, 800 bales, Kehror Pacca at Rs2,100 to Rs2,175 and 800 bales, Dunyiapur at Rs2,175.