KARACHI, Jan 2: Cotton market on Wednesday passed through a relatively dull session as standoff between the ginners and spinners continues — both are awaiting some positive developments on the export front.

But both the private sector exporters and the Trading Corporation of Pakistan stayed on the sidelines as did the spinners, allowing the market to set its direction based on supply and demand factors, dealers said.

Unlike previous season when the private sector exporters have contracted to export about half-a-million bales by end of the year, their performance during the current season are terribly alarming.

“Most of them are virtually out of the export arena as their mid-season inventories show and the next half may be still poorer because of an uncertain price outlook,” says a cotton analyst.

Exporters say negative developments on the external front beginning from attack on the World Trade Tower followed by Afghan war have dealt a serious blow to the export trade as foreign buyers were not inclined to believe that shipments could be made within the stipulated time for obvious reasons.

And that created uncertain market conditions here just at the beginning of the new season, which scared away traditional foreign buyers of Pakistani lint, they say, adding the situation has further aggravated after the massive Indian troop build-up on the borders and fears of war.

“Unlike the previous year the import bill of foreign lint may far outweigh the export proceeds, having negative impact on the foreign exchange earnings,” says a leading cotton exporter.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the upper Sindh the southern Punjab cotton belt indicate that arrivals of phutti are drying up by each day as growers have lost hopes of an increase in prices and are unloading their unsold positions.

But ginners are trapped in higher unsold stocks of lint owing to slack demand both from the exporters and spinners and are awaiting the re-entry of the TCP to bail them out from the current crisis.

As a result, ready business was light. Till late in the evening about 4,000 bales changed hands as under: 200 bales of Sanghar at Rs1,575.00, 2,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan at Rs1,875 to Rs1,900 and 1,200 bales of Yazman at Rs1,800.