KARACHI: Trading activity declined on the cotton market on Thursday due to slow phutti (seed cotton) arrivals amid complaints of high moisture content.

The availability of quality cotton has become difficult particularly when most of the phutti arriving from Sindh cotton fields is reported to have high moisture due to intermittent rains.

In Punjab, phutti arrival has yet to gear up and only a few ginning mills have started operations. Though arrival of phutti by now should have been in full swing from lower Sindh due to early sowing but rains continue to disturb its picking.

It could not be ascertained as to why official spot rates of the cotton were cut down by Rs50 to Rs6,300 per 40kg, while rates on ready counter remained at overnight level.

Barring the Chinese cotton market, international markets closed steady.