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* China moves to boost lackluster reserve sales
* Prices plunge to two-week low of 89.84 cts/lb
* Prices meet, do not breach March 13 high of 93.75 cts/lb
NEW YORK, March 24 (Reuters) - Cotton futures tumbled on Monday after China announced plans to cut the selling price for reserve bales, renewing worries over import demand in the world's top consumer and prompting waves of long liquidation.
The most-active May cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S.
Global equity markets also fell, hit by concerns over the Ukraine crisis and slowing growth in China, the world's top consumer of many raw materials.
Beijing plans to cut the sales price for cotton in its strategic reserves, bringing it more in line with world prices to speed up lackluster auctions and reduce the country's ballooning inventories.
China's stocks have swelled to nearly 60 percent of world stocks projected to hit a record 97 million bales by the end of July.
Fiber withstood pressure from the news early in the session before reversing and falling almost 4 percent as worries built over the demand impact of lower domestic prices and larger policy changes as China prepares to scrap its controversial stockpiling program.
"This will no doubt have an impact on Chinese import demand," said Michael Sweeney, senior cotton broker with Marex Spectron in New York.
Beijing launched its stockpiling program in 2011, paying above global prices to support farmers, driving voracious demand for imports, and pegging a floor under the world market even as global output outstrips demand.
The policy has faced mounting criticism as the country's textile mills labor under crimped margins. The country's top agriculture bank has urged the country to speed up sales to ease the bank's mounting debts, according to a state media report.
Prices also faced technical pressure after inching to a session high of 93.75 cents a lb, matching but not breaching a seven-month high hit earlier this month.
Technical support came in along key moving averages, and the front month
New York futures rallied in 2013 and have soared to near 94 cents a lb this month as traders have grown increasingly concerned about tight nearby supplies in the United States, the world's top importer.
The run-up has renewed worries over long-term demand for fiber, which took a big hit after prices soared to historic highs three years ago and global mills turned to lower-priced, synthetic alternatives.
(Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Diane Craft)
((christine.prentice@thomsonreuters.com)(+1)(646)(223 6136)(Reuters Messaging: christine.prentice.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))
Keywords: MARKETS COTTON/