KARACHI, Sept 15: Trading on the cotton market on Monday resumed on a steady note as both sellers and the buyers maintained a status quo as far as spot rates were concerned.

Late in physical trading, prices were quoted higher by Rs25 per maund followed by reports of a sharp decline in phutti arrivals and reported suspension of its picking operations owing to extremely warm weather.

Naseem Usman, a leading cotton analyst, says spinners and mills are still uncertain about the reported damage to the cotton crop due to floods and pest attack and are not inclined to take supply risks as far as their forward sales of cotton yarn and textile is concerned.

Mills average daily intake of 20,000 bales reflects that the falling lint prices to Rs4,000 per maund, from Rs4,200, have allowed them to have better price average on their total inventories, he said.

“Lint prices could further fall below Rs4,000 if the pressure on the New York cotton futures continued for another weak or so,” he added.

Some of the ginners in the central Punjab cotton belt have already been selling below this barrier including a lot of 800 bales from a Pak Pattan ginnery was finalise at Rs3,925 to Rs3,950 per maund on quality differentials.

Some other leading brokers hold the same opinion about the future price outlook, but no one among them is sure about the crop size although they are guessing 10 to 15 per cent decline in total cotton production target.Meanwhile, the textile industry is eagerly awaiting phutti arrivals’ figures for August, which is likely to be released by Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) soon.

Official spot rates were, therefore, held unchanged at the last level of Rs4,000 per maund, but most of the deals were quality–based.

Mill ready off-take was on the higher side totalling about 20,000 bales as under:

SINDG TYPE: 1,600 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs4,025 to Rs4,050, 1,200 and 1,000 bales and 800 bales, Shahdadpur, Tando Adam and Hala at Rs4,050 to Rs4,075, 1,400 bales, Sanghar at Rs4,050 to Rs4,100, 200 bales, Sinjoro at Rs4,075, 600 bales, Nawabshah at Rs4,050 and 200 bales, Vehari at Rs4,000.