KARACHI, Aug 6: Trading activity on the cotton market on Friday lost its pace as spinners were not inclined to make fresh commitments at the rising prices.

Market sources said the prices are expected to stay firm because the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) will enter the cotton trade as a second buyer.

Already, it has reactivated its procurement centres in some of the lower Sindh cotton growing belt and vowed to intervene if prices of phutti fell below the official support price of Rs925 per 40 kg.

It will procure about 100,00 bales of lint to make a buffer stock to support the market to keep prices stable and economic for both the growers and the spinners. The trading activity was also curtailed owing to a short Friday session and the spinners and ginners mostly remained on the sidelines.

The interesting feature was that both the official spot and the rate at which stray lots are changing hands are quoted at par, Rs2,350 per maund. But in normal trading sessions the latter is generally quoted at a discount depending on the quality of lint in the trade.

Floor brokers said forecast of heavy rain in Sindh and emergency in the coastal areas close to Badin and some other lower Sindh cotton growing areas worried the spinners as any damage to the standing crop could send the prices up.

"The relative lull in cotton trade seems to have been caused after the Sindh government declared emergency in the coastal areas and shifting of the population to the safe areas," they said.

The next two days, Saturday and Sunday are crucial for the cotton trade as the rain forecast could cause pressure on ready supplies because of interruption in arrival from the Sindh ginneries in the backdrop of the suspension of the picking operations of phutti, some other brokers said.

Meanwhile, the Sindh Agriculture Department has set up check posts on the National Highway to stop the delivery of phutti to the central Punjab ginners. However, picking operations of phutti in these areas are well in progress and some of the ginneries have already resumed new season on a modest scale.

New York cotton futures showed modest recovery at 45.73 and 46.42 cents per lb, up 0.78 and 0.94 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the forward December settlements, respectively. Ready off-take was modest as till late in the evening 400 bales from a Sultanabad ginnery changed hands at Rs2,350 per maund.