KARACHI, Oct 27: Cotton prices on Monday suffered fresh sharp fall as the massive load-shedding had badly hit the entire cotton trade followed by steep decline in phutti and lint prices, analysts said.

“Ginning operations are claimed to be at a standstill owing to the shortage of power,” they said. “Ginners are refusing to accept fresh lots of phutti and spinners have curtailed their daily intake of lint, leading to a virtual crash of the market”.

While phutti and lint rates have fallen from the seasonal peak level of Rs2,000 and Rs4,200 per 40 kg to Rs1,200 and Rs2,500 per maund respectively.

Floor brokers said the worst-hit was the grower who had failed to sell his phutti even at Rs1,200 per 40 kg as ginners were not inclined to make fresh commitments in an uncertain future cotton trade outlook.

“World cotton markets are also in crisis owing to worries about the US economy, uncertainty in the money markets and near-collapse of the financial system,” they said.

But the local cotton trade is hit by the long unannounced load-shedding and no immediate corrective steps were taken by the governments to overcome the electricity issue, they added.

Market sources said the ginners proposed shutdown from Oct 30 if the government did not come to their rescue may further aggravate the situation.

Official spot rates were further lowered by Rs100 per maund at Rs2,900 per maund but in the ready section most of the deals were done well below it depending on quality of the lint.

The following were some of the deals which gone through in the ready section late on Monday evening:

SINDH TYPE: 3,000 bales, Mirpurkhas and Sultanabad at Rs2,400 to Rs2,600, 3,000 bales, Shahdadpur and 1,000 bales, Tando Adam at Rs2,700 to Rs2,800, 800 bales, Pithero also at Rs2,700 to Rs2,800.

PUNJAB VARIETY: 800 bales, Fazalpur at Rs2,900, 400 bales, Haroonabad at Rs2,500, 200 bales, Hasilpur at Rs2,950, 200 bales, Bahawalpur at Rs2,900, 400 bales, Okara at Rs2,500, 400 bales, Jalalpur at Rs2,900, 1,000 bales, Sadiqabad at Rs3,000, 200 bales, Chistian at Rs2,800, 200 bales, Yazman at Rs2,800 and 1,000 bales, Burewala at Rs2,700 to Rs2,800.