KARACHI, Aug 12: Cotton prices on Friday eased from the higher levels on selling by ginners followed by reports of steady arrivals of phutti into the ginners and fears of further decline in prices. An idea of ginners selling, notably on forward basis, may well be had from the fact that some of deals were done around Rs2,200 per maund, reflecting higher crop ideas and an expected pressure on future price outlook, brokers said.

They said the TCP in its last auction for 81,000 bales on Saturday could face some problems on the price front as a large section of spinners and mills had opted for the new crop.

“Many of the spinners may not be in a position to match the TCP reference price owing to the availability of new crop at the lower levels”, some others said “whether or not it lowers its benchmark prices in line with the prevailing world and local rates will determine the fate of the last auction”.

However, most of the spinners and mills seem to have opted for the new crop from the lower Sindh ginneries and are inclined to make fresh forward deals around Rs2,200 per maund. Ginners said the corresponding decline in phutti prices, which have fallen to Rs1,050 from the previous Rs1,125.00 is well-reflected in the lint prices and willingness of the spinners to grab the floating stock.

The activity on the cotton market is expected to pick up during the next couple of weeks and in turn sufficient new crop supplies to the spinners but prices will be determined on supply and demand factors, they said.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the Sindh cotton belt indicate stray incidents of pest attack in some of the areas but official sources said there was no cause of worry. Official spot rates were marked down by Rs25 on ginner selling and were last quoted at Rs2,275 in line with official spot rates.

New York cotton futures also suffered fresh fall of 0.63 and 0.58 cents at 47.88 and 49.75 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the distant December settlements respectively.

Ready off-take was active as till late in the evening about 3,000 bales changed hands as under: 200 bales, each Mirpurkhas, Sultanabad at Rs2,200 and Rs2,250 delivery in the first week of next month, 200 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,280, 200 bales at Rs2,315 and 200 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,300.