The ginners in Sindh said that buyers from Punjab were offering higher price of phutti which once again had accelerated phutti transfer from Sindh to Punjab. Last year also at the beginning of the season, phutti had started moving from Sindh to Punjab because of more attractive offers from there.

Ginners said that this year more phutti was being transferred to Punjab. Ginning factories have just working this week both in Sindh and Punjab. However, a number of ginning factories were already functioning in lower Sindh where phutti usually arrives earlier than other areas, said ginners.

They said that phutti was getting Rs 1000 per maund while the government has fixed Rs 950 per maund as minimum price.

However, some farmers have complained that they were not getting even the minimum price fixed by the government and demanded that Trading Corporation of Pakistan should start buying.

Ginners said that at least 140,000 maund phutti has been sold to Punjab since the beginning of the new season which is substantially higher than last year.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2004