KARACHI: Cotton prices on Wednesday came under pressure as buyers took to the sidelines. Higher arrivals of phutti (seed cotton) coupled with shortage of transport have put pressure on lint prices.

Floor brokers said growers are agitating against falling phutti prices which hardly cover up their input cost.

Growers in Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar held sit-ins on highways to register their protest against low phutti price. They are arguing that they have to pay Rs400 per maund for picking and Rs100 to the middleman along with other costs such as seeds, fertiliser, pesticide etc. Therefore, the prevailing prices of phutti at around Rs2,200 to Rs2,400 per 40kg are resulting in huge losses.

Meanwhile, slow buying from spinners ahead of long Eid holidays and power and gas crisis in Punjab is a cause of concern for the textile industry which is presently operating much below capacity. The world cotton markets also remained easy where New York cotton moved lower for all the future contracts.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates remained steady at overnight level.

The following major deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 1,000 bales Rohri done at Rs5,250, 600 bales Burewala done at Rs5,250, 600 bales Arifwala done at Rs5,250, 200 bales Qabula done at Rs5,250, 600 bales Haroonabad done at Rs5,250 to Rs5,300, 400 bales Rajanpur done at Rs5,300 and 400 bales Mianwali done at Rs5,300.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd , 2014