KARACHI, Dec 1: Trading activity on the cotton market on Friday considerably slowed down as ginners raised their asking prices as growers held on to their phutti stocks.

Floor brokers said phutti arrivals into the southern Punjab ginneries were on the decline as some of the leading growers decided to hold onto their unsold stocks to sell them at higher rates.

“The growers still hold large amount of phutti but are holding on it to sell at Rs1,400 per 40 kg,” they said, adding “but ginners appear to be reluctant to oblige as it will add to the cost of lint beyond spinners export parity levels”.

Phutti prices hovering around Rs1,300-1,325 per maund but some of the leading growers were said to be demanding still higher prices against the official support price of Rs1,025.

But some of the leading textile groups were not inclined to keep to the sidelines and covered their forward positions at Rs2,575 per maund as compared to Thursday’s Rs2,550 and below it depending on the quality of lint in trade.

A sharp fall in daily mill off-take reflects that the price war has already begun and the ginners could be at the receiving end, they said.

Market sources said there is a loud whispering in the market that phutti arrivals figure for the fortnight ended Nov 30, due next week, may be on lower side, which, in turn was pushing lint prices higher.

Official spot rates were, however, firmly held at the previous level of Rs2,475 but in ready section some of the deals were done well above them.

Ready off-take was relatively slow totalling 10,000 bales, the following being some of the notable deals. The interesting feature was that there was no deal in the central or upper Sindh lint.

The following are details of Punjab turnover: 1,000 bales, Multan at Rs2,535-2,550, 2,000 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs2,550-2,575, 1,000 bales, Rajanpur at Rs2,550-2,565, 1,000 bales, D.G.Khan at Rs2,550, 2,000 bales, Shujabad at Rs2,565-2,575 and 1,000 bales, Ahmedpur East at Rs2,550-2,565.