KARACHI, Aug 9: Cotton prices posted fresh decline on Saturday as some of the ginners indulged in hasty selling followed by reports that supply position will improve after the end of the strike possibly by early next week.

According to market sources a delegation of ginners on Friday met the officials of ministry of agriculture, who advised them to end strike and gave them an assurance that their demands will be met.

They said as the ginners will again start accepting phutti from the growers possibly by early next week a section of ginners lowered their asking prices fearing fresh fall in rates after all the ginneries resume operations.

An idea of the prevailing panic among the ginners may well be had from the fact that a leading among them made forward deal with a spinner at Rs4,000 per maund for delivery on Aug 25, they added.

On average, lint prices had declined during the week by Rs100 to Rs150 per maund in line with an identical fall in phutti prices, said a leading floor broker.

An interesting feature was that spinners and mills lifted all the lots, including some big ones offered by the ginners between Rs4,075 and Rs4,175 per maund and about 20,000 bales changed hands.

Phutti prices from the current Rs1,950 per 40 kg are expected to ease further by the next week as growers will try to dump the commodity into the ginneries at ginners option, meaning lower prices, they added.

Indications are that ginners may not like to hold long unsold positions and try to pass on the financial risks to the spinners after lowering their selling prices, market sources said.

“The fresh limit-fall in the New York cotton futures had sent shock waves among the growers the world around, notably local ones, who were entertaining record rise in prices followed by reports of a short crop owing to early season pest attack,” they added. New York cotton futures on Friday were quoted lower by 2.08 and 2.21 cents per lb at 67.25 and 69.17 cents for the ruling October the forward December contracts, respectively.

But local official spot rates were firmly held at the last close of Rs4,250 per maund, although bulk of the business in the ready section was done below them.

The following are some of the important deals, mostly from the central Sindh cotton belt reported by the brokers: 3,000 bales, Tando Adam, at Rs4,125 to Rs4,175, 2,200 bales, Shahdadpur at Rs4,100 to Rs4,150, 1,000 bales, each Sanghar and Hyderabad at Rs4,125 to Rs4,150, 200 bales, Khipro at Rs4,125, 600 bales, Mirpurkhas at Rs4,100 to Rs4,175 and 800 bales, Sultanabad at Rs4,075 to Rs4,125.