Harvest activity has continued to accelerate across China, which has put pressure on the seed cotton prices paid to farmers. On September 7, the national average seed cotton price paid to growers was 2.96 yuan per jin (2 jin = 1 kilogram), based on an average ginning outturn of 37.27 percent and reflected the lint equivalent price of 13,337 yuan per ton. By the end of last week, the average seed cotton price had fallen to 2.90 yuan per jin. Based on an average lint outturn of 37.2 percent, the average lint equivalent price was down to 13,055 yuan per ton. One factor to be noted is that the global bull market in plant protein products is pushing up cottonseed prices, which rallied from .89 yuan per jin to .91 yuan per jin by the end of last week. Another item of note is that the lint equivalent price we quote does not reflect the lint selling price but the cost of lint to ginners.