KARACHI, Oct 8: Cotton market on Wednesday remained under pressure on renewed selling triggered by reports of higher phutti arrivals into the ginneries and the weakness of the New York cotton futures owing to crisis on the US financial markets.

“The cotton market appears to be heading towards a possible crash if the current panic among the growers about the falling prices is not checked,” said cotton analyst Naseem Usman. “Most of the growers who have a little holding capacity may not be in a position to face the current storm and may finally give in if the crisis continues”.

If that happens the grower will be the chief loser as he has invested heavily in the crop after having purchased inputs at much higher rates, he added.

As a result, some of the deals in the ready section were done as low as Rs3,200 per maund, about Rs400 per maund lower as compared to overnight rates, floor brokers said.

They said the current turmoil on the world commodity markets could take its toll in the coming sessions also as perceptions of higher crop estimates could depress the market further lower.

However, unlike the last couple of sessions when leading ginners sold around Rs3,900 per maund, but they did not indulge in panic-selling amid hopes that prices could rebound again, they added.

Most of the deals were of retail nature as leading ginners held onto their unsold positions after having purchased phutti at the higher rates.

Official spot rates were lowered by Rs150 per maund, while New York cotton futures suffered a fresh decline of 0.85 and 0.76 cents per lb at 51.56 and 53.56 cents per lb respectively.

The following notable deals were reported in the ready section on Wednesday evening:

SINDH TYPE: 400 bales, each Daur and Shahpur Chakar at Rs3,300, 400 bales, Hyderabad at Rs3,200 to Rs3,250, 1,400 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs3,200 to Rs3,300, 600 bales, Tando Adam at Rs3,400, 1,000 bales, Sanghar at Rs3,500 and 1,000 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs3,400 to Rs3,500.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 1,000 bales, Rahimyar Khan, 400 bales, Bakhar, Mian Channu and Bahawalnagar at Rs3,450, 400 and 200 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs3,400, 600 bales, Layyah at Rs3,425 to Rs3,550, 200 bales, Kot Addu at Rs3,550, 600 bales, Khanpur at Rs3,575, 600 bales, Fort Abbas at Rs3,500 400 bales, Khanewal at Rs3,510, 400 bales, Pak Pattan, 200 bales, Maroot, 400 bales, Haroonabad and 200 bales, Faqirwali at Rs3,500.