KARACHI, Aug 27: Cotton market on Saturday remained under pressure as ginners were indulged in hasty selling amid steady arrivals of phutti and a considerable decline in mill demand.

Some of the deals in the lower Sindh variety were done as low as Rs2,150 per maund from the Rs2,375 a couple of sessions earlier but spinners were not inclined to go all-out for the kill and stayed away anticipating further decline in prices, brokers said.

Spinners said that in view of continued fall in international yarn prices and heavy purchases made by them from the TCP they had to limit their daily buying operations as foreign demand for the by-products became normal.

“Piling of finished products is straining our liquidity positions and we have to keep a judicious balance between our new buying and stocks”, they added.

They said an identical fall in phutti prices below the Rs1,000 from Rs1,100 earlier in the season also contributed to the downturn and an uncertain future price outlook.

But market sources said that the spinners were staying out of the market followed by a loud whispering that prices of lint could fall further during the next couple of weeks after picking operations of phutti were resumed in the major cotton growing areas, notably upper Sindh and southern Punjab.

Weak world prices and larger selling by the TCP has just begun to influence the local market and full impact of the negative fallout would be known by the end of the next month, they added.

Naseem Usman, a leading cotton analyst and secretary of the Karachi Cotton Brokers Association, said that the condition of the crop was good and there was no significant pest attack and the production target was expected to be met with slight changes here and there depending on weather and other factors.

Official spot rates were further lowered for the consecutive fourth session and were marked further down by Rs25 at Rs2,250 per maund.

Ready off-take was on the higher side rising to 6,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals:

SINDH VARIETY: 1,200 bales, Shahdadpur and 600 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,250 to Rs2,255, 1,000 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,225 to Rs2,250, 200 bales, Oderolal at Rs2,265, 200 bales, Kot Ghulam Muhammad at Rs2,240, 200 bales, Jhole at Rs2,235, and 400 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,250.