Pakistan cotton activity failed to pick up pace as cotton prices came under pressure on Thursday as ginners rushed to off-load their stocks in an attempt to ease their liquidity crunch and the falling trend in the world cotton markets including those of New York and India, is another factor affecting price in the domestic market.

Floor brokers said that from the outset there was selling pressure which pushed premium quality and lower grade cotton prices down between Rs50 and Rs100 per maund on ready deals. Phutti (seed cotton) prices also declined as a result.

The Karachi Cotton Association’s (KCA) spot rates remained unchanged.

Following major deals finalised on ready counter included: 1,000 bales Tharo Shah at Rs4,575, 3,000 bales Rohri at Rs4,900, 600 bales Shahdadpur at Rs3,900, 400 bales Sanghar at Rs3,900, 600 bales Burewala at Rs4,900 to Rs5,025, 600 bales Haroonabad at Rs4,925, 1,000 bales Liaquatpur at Rs5,100, 1,000 bales Khanpur at Rs5,100 and 1,000 bales Rahimyar Khan at Rs5,100.

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.

On the global front, the New York cotton market declined for all the future contracts with maturing March and May 2015 contracts closing below 60 cents per pound.