KARACHI: Higher arrivals of phutti (seed cotton) kept prices under pressure on the cotton market for third consecutive session on Thursday.

As fears of damage to standing cotton crop by floods subsided, growers rushed to release their phutti stocks apprehending lint prices may fall in the coming days.

As a result, ginners also came under pressure and resorted to panic selling which pushed lint prices down on ready deals.

The spinners and some exporters, however, indulged in small lot transactions in anticipation that prices would move lower because of expected larger cotton crop size this season (2014-15).

Cotton analysts believe that this season cotton crop in Sindh may be short, but higher in Punjab which will help to off-set any major shortfall.

The world cotton markets witnessed revival in buying interest where New York cotton after three straight sessions of downward trend partly managed to recover losses.

The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) spot rates were unchanged at previous level.

The following major deals were reported to have changed hands on ready counter: 800 bales Shahdadpur at Rs5,575 to Rs5,600, 800 bales Tando Adam at Rs5,575 to Rs5,600, 600 bales Bahawalnagar at Rs5,600, 1000 bales Mian Channu at Rs5,700, 800 bales Chichawatni at Rs5,700, 400 bales Vehari at Rs5,650 to Rs5,675, 200 bales Sahiwal at Rs5,650, 400 bales Mianwali at Rs5,700.

The following are Thursday’s new crop Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) official spot rates for local dealings in Pak rupees for base grade 3 staple length 1-1/16” micronair value between 3.8 to 4.9 NCL.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2014