Cotton prices declined 16% from last year.

San Joaquin Valley members of Calcot Ltd., the nation’s largest cotton-marketing cooperative, earned an average of 67 cents a pound, compared to 80 cents in the 1983-84 crop year, President Tom W. Smith reported. Hurting prices, he said, were an overvalued dollar, a heavy influx of imported textiles and apparel, China’s growing cotton industry and higher foreign production. Calcot represents 3,300 growers in California and Arizona, with 2,500 members in the San Joaquin region. Their production accounts for about 15% of national output.