KARACHI, Jan 31: Cotton market on Saturday eased from the recent higher levels as some of the ginners lowered their asking prices for an average quality of lint in an effort to clear the backlog.

But in physical trading most of the deals were finalised Rs100 to 200 per maund lower at Rs3,250 to 3,350 as compared to previous high rate of Rs3,450 per maund for fine lots, floor brokers said .

The steep fall in prices reflects that stocks of fine lint with ginners are falling despite the fact that yarn prices on the world markets have shown a considerable improvement, they added.

They said next month’s two tenders, 0.1m bales each floated by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan(TCP) may be another reason behind the slow business in the ready section as some of the leading ginners may be holding fine lots to tender against the TCP tender.

“Whether or not the recent persistent decline in the New York cotton futures may have any relevance to the current sluggishness on the local market is unclear,” said a leading cotton analyst.

He said the fall below the benchmark of 50 cents per lb indicates that New York cotton futures will remain under pressure during the next couple of weeks after the withdrawal of foreign speculative buying and the absence of US exporters.

New York cotton futures on Friday were quoted further lower by 0.66 and 0.57 cents per lb for both the ruling March and the forward May contracts at 49.41 and 50.44 cents, respectively.

Local official spot rates were also revised downward by Rs50 at 3,350, but most of the deals in the ready section were done well below them.

Mill ready off-take was on the lower side amounting to about 10,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH VARIETY: 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs3,250 to Rs3,285, 200 bales, Khipro at 3,250, and 800 bales, Mirpurkhas at 3,300.

PUNJAB TYPE: 1,200 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs3,300 to 3,350, 1,000 bales, D.G. Khan at Rs3,365, 800 bales, each Jalalpur and Mubarikpur at Rs3,300, 400 bales, Vehari at Rs3,200 and 600 bales, Kot Addu at Rs3,350.