KARACHI, April 26: Cotton market consolidated the overnight gains on Saturday, scarring away spinners from the ready section, most of whom are claimed to be the victim of export parity levels, floor brokers said.

Leading ginners from the southern Punjab cotton belt who hold bulk of the unsold stocks of lint, mostly of fine lots, appear to be in no hurry to get out of them on the perception that prices may not fall from the current higher levels, irrespective of large imports, they said.

Stray lots did change hands as some of the spinners have to operate nearly on a daily basis because of financial problems, some of whom are working on one shift just to keep the wheels moving, spinners said.

They said several textile units, mostly spinning ones, have shut down their business owing to higher input costs, power problems and lower textile prices on the world markets but may resume their operations after the new crop arrives.

Even leading mill managements, who built long positions through imports, are also not happy over the developing situation on the cotton front and foresee a bleak future for the industry as a whole, they added.

A modest increase of 11 per cent in export of textiles owing to higher costs of inputs, including lint, is weighing heavily against their annual export projections, they said and added that indication was that exports may remain under pressure during the coming weeks also for various reasons, they said.

“Textiles, which contribute well over 60 per cent to the total export proceeds could, have a negative bearings for the year ending June 30, 2008,” they fear.

New York cotton futures fell further by 0.16 and 0.69 cents per lb at 68.45 and 71.44 cents for the maturing May and the new crop July contracts on Friday, respectively, on speculative trade selling.

But on the other hand, local official spot rates were firmly held at the last level of Rs3,350 per maund. The following are some of the deals reported by the brokers: 200 bales from a central Sindh ginnery at Rs3,300 and 400 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs3,400.