KARACHI, Aug 9: Cotton prices on Friday soared to new peak levels as spinners made frantic efforts to grab the floating stock but ginners appears to be reluctant sellers even at the inflated levels.

“True to its speculative nature, cotton trade has again swung into the vicious circle as lint has become too expensive at this early stage”, a leading cotton broker Naseem Usman said “grower is happy after getting more than a fair price of Rs1,000 per 40 kg and spinner is unhappy in his own way”.

No one is to be blamed for the current price flare-up excepting the spinners, some others brokers say adding “after having importing about 1.3m bales and having purchased about 10m bales from the local market what else they want as their annual consumption may not have touched the high mark of 11m bales”.

Ginners may have been at the receiving end as growers are naming their selling prices and below them are not inclined to deliver phutti to them and ginners have to pass on the burden to the spinners just completing the vicious circle.

“We are paying in the same coin to the spinners”, claims a progressive grower referring to the last season massive battering received by them after phutti prices have fallen to Rs425 per 40 kg as compared to the official procurement price of Rs780.

“There was a turmoil in the fields at that time as the farmer was at war until the TCP came in the picture and supported the market”, says a leading ginner adding “in a free market economy such situations do emerge based on supply and demand factors”.

It was in this background that some of the deals in the lower Sindh lint were done as higher as Rs2,250 per maund, while central Punjab ginners was demanding Rs2,300 and for good reasons.

Meanwhile, reports originating from the TCP sources said that it has accepted bids from the spinners for 10,000 bales at Rs2,025 in its recently held tender. But foreign buyers did not raise their bids to the level demanded by the TCP.

Ready offtake was modest as most of the spinners stayed away and did not offer to buy at the rising prices, while those holding short positions purchased stray lots at the ginners options. The following are some of the deals, all in new crop Sindh, reported late in the evening: 200 bales, Sultanabad at Rs2,200, 100 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,225, and 100 bales, Khipro at Rs2,250.