KARACHI, Dec 12: Trading on the cotton market on Thursday remained fairly active as price ideas of both the buyers and the sellers matched as was reflected in large ready offtake.

Unlike the previous sessions incidents of quality war were not wanting as some of the contamination-free lots from the Rahimyar Khan, one of the model areas were sold at Rs2,150 per maund.

But the bulk of the business on a average was done at Rs2,100, while some inferior lots from the central Punjab cotton belt were sold between Rs1,925 and Rs1,950 per maund depending on quality.

Floor brokers said the notable feature of the post-Eid holiday cotton trading was that spinners had accelerated the pace of their covering operations, while ginners appear to be in no mood to hold long positions at this time.

“After having fixed phutti prices and clearing outstanding dues of the growers, ginners are in no mood to hold beyond manageable lint stocks despite predictions of an increase in prices during the next couple of weeks,” they said.

Large daily spinner offtake and stable lint prices reflects that higher crop ideas have taken out the speculative elements from the cotton trade at least for the near-term.

There is a perception and shared by all the leading ginners, including those who have tremendous holding capacity that Pakistan could be the chief beneficiary of the developing world cotton situation.

But it will largely depend on the handling of export trade by the spinners and mills after value-addition to both their traditional partners and the new markets, dealers said.

Heavy daily mill buying, however, indicates that their hands are full of exporter orders at least for the quarter ending March 31, 2003 and prevailing lint prices are in line with their export parity levels, they added.

Official spot rates were increased by Rs15 per maund to Rs2,090 but New York cotton futures suffered a mild reaction at the inflated levels and fell 0.32 and 0.26 cents per lb at 50.31 and 54.20 cents per lb for both the ruling March and the distant May contracts, respectively.

Ready offtake was active and totalled about 20,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH VARIETY: 200 bales from Moro and 400 bales from Nawabshah at Rs2,050.

PUNJAB TYPE: 2,000 bales from Rahimyar Khan at Rs2,140 to Rs2,150; 1,600 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,150; 1,000 bales, Yazman at Rs2,075 to Rs2,100; 2,000 bales, each from Bahawalpur, Nurpur and Ahmedpur East at Rs2,100; 1,000 bales, Rajanpur at Rs2,125; 2,000 bales, D.G. Khan at Rs2,075 to Rs2,100; 400 bales, Bahawalnagar at Rs2,050; 400 bales, Mian Channu at Rs1,925; 400 bales, Chichawatni at Rs1,950; and 200 bales from Pir Mahal at Rs1,925.