KARACHI, Nov 26: Trading on the cotton market remained sluggish on Monday as ginners had suspended their phutti buying operations for an indefinite period owing to supply of contaminated phutti by the growers, market sources said.
The members of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) met in Multan on Sunday had decided not buy phutti from the growers as they were not supplying clean phutti, they said.
“Growers are sending phutti after watering and adding trash in it which not only damaged the quality of the lint but also causes weight loss,” said a leading local ginner.
However, they decided to sell their unsold stock of about 2m bales lying in their godowns to the spinners to keep the wheels of textile industry moving.
But there was no word from the progressive and leading growers on the developing crisis but reports reaching here from the cotton belts indicated that some of them had lowered their selling prices by Rs50 per kg to around Rs1,400 to Rs1,500.
Whether or not growers will further lower their asking prices or held onto their positions during the next couple of sessions is still not known.
Ginners are seeking government intervention on the issue of contaminated phutti, but so far there is no official word on the developing situation, floor brokers said.
Official spot rates did not show any change and were firmly held at the last level of Rs3,075 per maund, well below at which modest business was reported in the ready section.
The following were some of the notable deals which changed hands on late Monday evening:
SINDH TYPE: 2,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs3,075 to Rs3,085.
PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,000 bales, Rajanpur at Rs3,150, 400 bales, each Khanewal and D.G. Khan at Rs3,150, 600 bales, Shujabad, at Rs3,150 to Rs3,175, 400 bales, Haroonabad at Rs3,100, 200 bales, Bahawalnagar at Rs3,100 and 1,000 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs3,100 to Rs3,150.
The following are Monday’s new crop Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) official spot rates for local dealings in Pak rupees for base grade 3 staple length 1-1/32” micronair value between 3.8 to 4.9 NCL.
