KARACHI, Nov 21: Physical business on the cotton market soared to about 50,000 bales on Friday as spinners and mills indulged in panic buying at the falling prices and lifted all the lots, both fine and inferior types offered by the ginners.

A near-panic condition also prevailed among ginners as there is no official word on resumption of market support operations by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), said a floor broker.

But what seems to have spread scare among ginners was the rumour that the IMF has, under the loan package conditions, not allowed official interventions in a free cotton trade, he added.

He said panicked ginners tried to sell their long unsold positions of about two million bales at lower prices below Rs3,000 per maund, which spinners readily absorbed.

Some of the lots in the central Sindh cotton were done as low as Rs2,700 per maund, while some fine lots from the Punjab ginneries were traded between Rs3,000 and 3,330.

Market sources said the future price outlook appears to be uncertain, partly owing to larger arrival of phutti into the ginneries and partly due to unsettled conditions on the world markets, notably the trend-setter New York cotton futures.

However, spinners and mills are building up long positions, notably at the falling prices despite the fact that conditions on the textile export fronts are said to be not that ideal, they added.

They said spinners are obliged to lift all the lots, notably those offered at a discount as they have no other source of supply owing to foreign exchange problems.

Official spot rates were, however, again quoted unchanged at Rs2,950 per maund but most of the deals in the ready section were quality-based.

New York cotton futures on the other hand suffered sharp fall of 1.17 and 1.87 cents per lb for both the maturing December and the forward March contracts, respectively.

The following are details of some notable deals reported in the ready section.

SINDH TYPE: 3,800 bales, upper Sindh at Rs3,000, 2,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,700, 1,000 bales, Khipro at Rs2,700 to RS2,725, 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,700, 400 and 800 bales, Shahdadpur and Hyderabad at Rs2,750 to Rs2,850 and 400 bales, Dadu at Rs2,800.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,600 bales each, Uch Sharif and Ahmedpur East at Rs3,000 to 3,330, 1,4,000 bales, Janpur, 1,400 bales each Rajanpur and Rahimyar Khan, 1,000 bales, Haroonabad, 3,400 bales, Nurpur, 1,200 bales, Sadiqbad, Alipur, at Rs3,000, 1,000 bales, Yazman, at Rs2,950 to Rs3,000, 1,800 bales, Shujabad, 1,200 bales, Jalalpur, 1,500 bales, Khanewal at Rs2,900 to Rs3,000 and 1,400 bales, Burewala at Rs2,900.