KARACHI, March 4: The cotton market on Friday maintained a bullish outlook, as below market arrivals of phutti for the fortnight ended Feb 28 buoyed ginners. But on the other hand, spinners and mills played safe.

According to official arrival figures released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), total phutti arrivals rose to 14.255m bales, as compared to previous fortnight's 14.152m bales, total addition being only 0.103m bales, enough to trigger mill buying, brokers said.

Out of the total, the mills and spinners have purchased 11.161m bales, leaving an unsold stock of 0.950m bales with the ginners. As the latest figure is close to the final, earlier predictions of a total of about 14.5m bales may not be hit," some brokers said. The figure due on March 15 would give a clear idea of the final crop.

What worries the spinners and mills is below the expectation unsold figure of 0.950m, barely enough for their monthly intake, they said, adding that supply gaps would have to be bridged by imports.

According to unconfirmed reports, some of the leading spinners and mills had already made forward deals for about a million bales for shipment during the next three months at much cheaper rates and were least worried over the recent developments on the cotton front.

"At no stage, the spinners showed their concerns over an expected pressure on local supplies in the coming weeks and maintained a bold face, demonstrating that they are not inclined to chase higher price and purchase only those lots which are in line with the export parity levels," brokers said.

"We have to operate in a highly competitive and quality conscious post-WTO market and will not indulge in panic buying," says a leading spinner. "We are not short of immediate supplies and can await our turn."

Official spot rates were again held unchanged at the previous levels in the absence of clear signals from the ready market where physical trading remained at low ebb.

Unconfirmed reports claim about 4,000 bales, both from upper Sindh and southern Punjab ginneries, mostly fine lots, changed hands at around Rs2,400 and slightly above.