KARACHI, Sept 4: Prices of lint on Thursday were quoted lower by Rs25 to Rs50 per maund owing to hasty-selling by some of the leading ginners fearing further decline followed by larger arrivals of phutti into the ginneries.

Bulk of the mill buying including some big lots again remained confined to the Sindh type owing to its better quality despite the fact that its counterpart in the Punjab belt was traded lower by Rs25.

Ginners said they had lowered prices in sympathy with the phutti rates as some of the leading growers virtually dumped their phutti on cash basis leading to fall in lint prices.

They said prices may not fall further and were expected to fluctuate within the current range of Rs4,100 to Rs4,200 per maund depending on mill ready off-take, although there are still two opinion about the size of the crop owing to pest attack in the Punjab cotton belt.

“The market is following the price pattern of the New York cotton future market,” said a broker, adding “both rise and fall in unison on alternate days for no apparent supporting factors excepting reflecting speculative activity by some big ones”.

However, the range of about Rs200 per maund either-way on which prices are fluctuating for the last couple of weeks was not based on the supply and demand factors, but appears to be a part of speculative trading by some big ones.

Floor brokers said arrival figures of phutti for August are expected to be released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) possibly by next week and they will give a fair idea of the size of the crop.

Official spot rates were firmly held at the last levels, but in the ready section most of the deals were done well below them.

New York cotton futures also fell by 0.72 and 0.49 cents per lb at 67.19 and 69.69 cents for both the ruling October and the distant December contracts respectively.

Mill ready off-take was on the higher side totalling 40,000 bales as under:

SINDH TYPE: 3,400 bales, Mirpurkhas and Sultanabad at Rs4,125 to Rs4,150, 2,000 bales each, Shdadpur, Tando Adam and Sanghar, 1,000 bales, Hala 400 and 600 bales, each Khipro, New Saeedabad, 400 bales, Sarhari and Nawabshah at Rs4,150 to Rs4,175 and 400 bales, Qazi Ahmed at Rs4,175.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 2,000 bales, Burewala at Rs4,100 to Rs4,125, 1,000 bales, each Chichawatni, Mian Channu and Sahiwal at Rs4,100 to Rs4,125, 800 bales, Pak Pattan at Rs4,050 to Rs4,100, 600 bales, Arifwala at Rs4,100, 200 bales, Depalpur at Rs4,075, 200 bales, Khanewal at Rs4,100, 600 bales, Bahawalnagar at Rs4,100, 200 bales, Harappa at Rs4,125 and 1,000 bales, Gojra at Rs4,100 to Rs4,110.