KARACHI, Feb 25: Cotton prices on Wednesday eased further as some of the ginners tried to clear the backlog of inferior type of lint, which they were holding to sell at fag-end of the season on higher rates.

An idea of falling prices may well be had from the fact that some of the deals were finalised as low as Rs3,050 per maund, while fine varieties from the southern Punjab cotton belt were traded as higher as Rs3,400 per maund.

The weakness of the New York cotton futures for the last couple of weeks continued to influence local prices on the lower side followed by reports that leading spinners and mills are opting for fresh imports at the current lower levels, analysts said.

They said local prices in most cases are progressively falling in line with the international prices as the weaker links of ginners holding unsold stocks are said to be out to clear the backlog.

A vast difference of Rs350 per maund reflects that the quality premiums of the leftover stocks, which worried spinners and mills as they have to go for foreign lint to makeup for the seasonal shortfall.

“It appears to be a quality war for the second time during the current season between the spinners and mills to grab the floating stock of fine lots and those ginners, who still holding stock of fine lots, have raised their asking prices,” said a broker.

New York cotton futures on Wednesday showed divergent trend and while the maturing March was quoted higher by 0.12 cents per lb, the ruling May showed a fractional fall of 0.13 cents at 42.78 and 43.78, respectively.

Official spot rates were lower by Rs25 at Rs3,325 per maund but in the ready section most of the deals were quality-based.

The following are some of the deals, which were gone through in the ready section late on Wednesday evening:

SINDH TYPE: 1,000 bales each, Kumb and Shahdadpur at Rs3,100, 400 bales, Shahdadpur at 3,000, and 800 bales, Rohri at 3,200.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 2,000 bales, Khanpur at Rs3,325, 1,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan at 3,390 to 3,400, 1,800 bales, Sadiqabad at 3,100, 600 bales, Lodhran at 3,325, 400 bales, Shujaabad at 3,275, 200 bales each, Fort Abbas and Mian Channu at 3,250 and 3,050, respectively.