KARACHI, Dec 4: Cotton market on Wednesday finished the pre-Eid holiday session on a dull note as spinners kept to the sidelines most of the time and did not opt for fresh commitments owing to delivery problems.

The other factor, which kept spinners and mills out of the market was larger than expected arrival figures of phutti into the ginneries for the fortnight ended Nov 30, released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) on Wednesday.

“A fresh increase of 6.43 per cent in the backdrop of an identical rise during the last fortnight reflects that the new crop is in line with the official projections”, one broker said.

The total arrivals of phutti so far at 6.77m bales as compared to 6.35m bales during the corresponding period last year, reflect conflicting reports about the lower crop ideas were incorrect.

While in some areas of the southern Punjab cotton belt the second picking is expected to be completed after the Eid holidays, the third picking has already started in others, which are known for growing best quality and contamination-free cotton.

“Prices may or may not fall from the current levels owing to larger than expected arrivals of phutti into the ginneries for the second fortnight in a row, some of the leading spinners do entertain such ideas”, says a leading broker adding “I don’t think ginners could be outwitted at this time of the season when the crop ideas are visible in the figures”.

Although highly volatile behaviour of the New York cotton futures is disturbing but chances of further decline appears to be remote as the world crop is short owing to losses in the major producing areas including India and China.

New York cotton futures were quoted lower by 1.60 and 1.67 cents per lb at 45.70 and 48.14 cents for both the maturing December and the distant March settlements respectively.

In any case, import of lint are still expensive and ginners are working on the theory that spinners and mills have to purchase from the local market rather than opting for other countries, brokers said.

However, the direction of the market will be clear in the post-holiday sessions when an initial idea of arrival figures for the first fortnight of the current month will be available.

Official spot rates were, therefore, again quoted unchanged at the last levels as ginners held firmly to their long positions.

Ready offtake was light owing to delivery problems. But some brokers reported about 2,500 bales from the Punjab ginneries changed hands between Rs2,050 to Rs2,125 depending on quality.