KARACHI, Sept 8: Cotton prices on Monday recovered from the early lows as ginners held on to their unsold positions followed by reports of a substantial decline in arrivals of phutti into the ginneries.

The fall of Rs200 per maund in lint prices during the last week worried both the growers and the ginners who jointly tried to forestall further decline after holding back stocks of lint and phutti.

Most of the deals were finalized between Rs2,400 and Rs2,450 per maund as compared to Rs2,250 to Rs2,300 at the last weekend.

Trading in the ready section resumed on a lower note, what the dealers called, an extension of the weekend weakness and the prevailing nervousness among the massively battered ginners followed by market talk of further decline in prices, dealers said.

But soon the word came from the interior about the holding back of stocks of phutti by the growers, which spinners took as a signal leading to an imminent price flare-up and some of them resorted to panic-buying.

Floor brokers said growers many not be holding capacity beyond a couple of weeks for various reasons including the quality of phutti, which gets more moisture in the stored heaps and turn yellowish in some cases.

But to check speculative fall in prices, they mostly hold on to their stocks or send phutti in the ginneries without selling it on the spot rates and keeps it on an unfixed basis until rates rise to their parity levels, they said.

“The increase of Rs150 just in one session after the entire week’s total fall of Rs200 per maund certainly worried spinners and mills who too made selective buying,” market sources said.

The near-term price outlook may remain highly volatile during the next couple of sessions as ginners and spinners will try to tilt the balance in their favour after a lot of manoeuvring, they said.

Official spot rates were further lowered by Rs25 in line with the previous week’s ready rates but in the ready section most of the deals were done well above them.

Ready offtake was light as till late in the evening about 3,000 bales from the Sindh ginneries changed hands. The following being some of the notable deals: 200 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs2,295, 200 bales, Sanghar at Rs2,400, 200 bales at Rs2,450, 400 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs2,450 and 600 bales, Jhole at Rs2,400.