KARACHI, Dec 26: Trading on the cotton market on Friday resumed on a firm note as spinners and mills continued to build up long positions amid fears of fresh rise in prices.

An idea of panic mill buying may well be had from the fact that a single lot of 6,000 bales from an upper Sindh ginnery was purchased by a group of leading spinners at the higher rate of Rs3,100.

After Thursday’s closure on account of Quaid-e-Azam’s birthday, cotton market resumed trading from where it was left on Wednesday as a spate of fresh buying was witnessed on the ready counter as spinners were not inclined to take even technical breather fearing pressure on supplies, floor brokers said.

“It was another session of big lot business as some of the ginners had raised their asking prices for the fine lots both from the upper Sindh and southern Punjab,” they added.

They said lint prices are inching higher each session and some analysts observed it could surpass the TCP procurement rate of Rs3,205 per 40 kg if the mill buying was sustained at the current rate of daily off-take.

A leading spinners’ cartel appears to be planning to push prices higher above the TCP support price to become again the sole buyers in a market rife with a speculation of a short crop, they added.

Fears of pressure on supplies in the new year and revival of foreign demand for the textiles were said to be the two main factors behind the run-up, they said.

It was a big rebound from the early month low of Rs2,850 per maund to Rs3,100, reflecting the changing pattern of mill demand.

Official spot rates were firmly held at the previous level of Rs2,925 per maund but most of the deals in the ready section were done well above them.

The following are some of the notable deals reported by the Karachi Brokers Forum to the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) on Friday.

SINDH VARIETY: 6,000 bales, upper Sindh and 1,000 bales, Mando Dero at Rs3,100.

PUNJAB TYPE: 2,000 bales, Ahmedpur East, at Rs3,000 to 3,100, 400 bales, Burewala at Rs3,000, 1,400 bales, Rahimyar Khan, 3,000 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs3,100, 2,400 and 2,600 bales, Khanpur and D.G. Khan at Rs3,050 to 3,100, 400 bales, Yazman at Rs3.025, 3,000 bales, Jampur at Rs3,075 to 3,100, 2,600 bales, Rajanpur at Rs3,075.