Cotton output falls short of revised target amid Punjab slump

LAHORE: The cotton production fell 28 percent below the official target for the 2023-24 season, as the main cotton-growing province of Punjab saw a 51 percent drop in its harvest, data showed on Thursday.

The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) data showed that cotton arrivals at ginning factories by Jan. 15 were 8.25 million bales, compared with the revised target of 11.5 million bales set by the Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA).

Although the total production of the ongoing cotton year is about 3.3 million bales higher than last year's flood-ravaged crop producing a total production of just 4.9 million bales, the crop still fell short of the 3.2 million bales of the revised target for the current year and over four million bales of the initial target.

The failure of the cotton crop in the country has mainly been attributed to Punjab’s colossal collapse in harvesting a good yield of silver fiber in the ongoing season. As per the latest data released on the about-to-conclude stage, cotton arrivals at the ginning stage in the province were recorded at merely 4.158 million bales till January 15, 2024, which is 51 percent shorter than the official production target of 8.2 million bales.

The harvest of Punjab during the current season has also been much lower than the past five years’ average which stood at around 6.5 million bales barring last year’s crop which was badly hit by the record flooding.

Punjab traditionally contributes over 70 percent to the total cotton production but this year its produce barely recorded 50 percent share. The cotton season is about to come to its end as the fortnightly flow of produce has dwindled to just 87,033 bales.

According to the ginners data, interestingly, Sindh’s cotton production has seen leapfrogging to 4.099 million bales till the mentioned period, which is 118 percent more than the last year’s production, which was devastated by floods. Punjab’s production is 37 percent greater than the last year’s output.

Till January 15, textile mills had purchased 7.478 million bales of cotton from ginning factories, while exporters had bought 0.292 million bales, out of which more than 0.150 million bales had actually been exported.

Owing to the decrease in cotton production, it is expected that up to four million bales of cotton will be required to be imported to meet the demand of the textile sector. PCGA data showed that Khanewal in Punjab produced 0.217 million bales, Dera Ghazi Khan 0.362 million bales, Layyah 0.224 million bales, Vehari 0.216 million bales Sahiwal 0.193 million bales, Rahim Yar Khan 0.607 million bales, Bahawalpur 0.559 million bales, Bahawalnagar 1.108 million bales.

In Sindh, Hyderabad’s output was recorded at 0.228 million bales, Mirpur Khas 0.135 million bales, Sanghar 1.690 million bales, Nawabshah 0.178 million bales, Naushero Feroze 0.320 million bales, Khairpur 0.354 million bales, Ghotki 0.277 million bales, Sukkur 0.546 million bales and Dadu produced 0.106 million bales during the period under review. Baluchistan on the other hand recorded a production of 0.187 million bales.