Five day ICAC meeting concludes

Members pledge to improve cotton output at lower costs

ISLAMABAD: The five day International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) meeting concluded Friday, with member-countries pledging to adopt innovative-cutting edge technologies for improving cotton production at lower costs, and strengthening the value-chain that would make competitive.

Government policies should focus on allowing prices to fluctuate with market forces, increasing funding for agricultural research, and implementing science-based regulations that allow technology development and adoption, said the statement issued at the conclusion of the of the 75th Plenary Meeting on Emerging Dynamics in Cotton: Enhancing Sustainability in the Cotton Value Chain.

The concluding session was presided over by ICAC executive director JoseSette while the Ministry of Textile Industry Secretary Hassan Iqbal was the chief guest.

ICAC executive director JoseSette said one of the greatest challenges for the cotton sector in Pakistan was energy shortage, which needed to be addressed for industrial growth in the textile sector. Pakistan possesses huge potential in cotton production and textile manufacturing to penetrate in the international market, he added.

The event, organised by the Ministry of Textile Industry in collaboration with ICAC, was attended by 378 persons, including 14 representatives from members, four international-member organisations, and four non-member countries.

According to the ICAC statement, the ICAC met in Islamabad from October 30 to November 4, 2016 for its 75th Plenary Meeting since the establishment of the committee in 1939.

The ICAC Secretariat reported that cotton output in 2015-16 fell due to pest attacks, competitive prices of other crops, and climate change, etc, leading to a reduction in world stocks.

Although inventories were still higher than usual, the excess has started to be trimmed.

Head of United States delegation and Cotton Analytic, Terry P Townsend said today cotton was Pakistan’s most important crop, and the backbone of its industry.

The country was also a major player in the world cotton market. Pakistan’s average two million tons production made it the fourth largest cotton producer in the world.

Townsend said that a lot more efforts were needed to increase the production of crop as well as value-addition for better rankings and competing with other regional and global competitors in production and manufacturing.

Another international expert on cotton and fibre, Andreas W Engelhardt said that modernisation of agricultural infrastructure was needed for better cotton production in the country.

Modern irrigation system, quality seeds, and high quality ginning tools were required for more production in this sector, he added.

Cotton continues however to be confronted by an extremely challenging competitive environment.

The ICAC statement further said that presentations made during a session on inter-fibre competition highlighted the increasing share of the world fibre market occupied by polyester. 

The committee was presented with preliminary findings from the Secretariat’s study on the economic factors underlying the growth of polyester.

These results showed that polyester had made considerable gains in the market for downstream products such as yarn filament staple and apparel. 

This trend was due to cheaper polyester prices caused by current oil prices and underutilised industrial capacity in the polyester industry.

The committee approved a recommendation of the Private Sector Advisory Panel to broaden the terms of reference of the Secretariat’s ongoing studies of the polyester market to include government support measures that have stimulated overcapacity in the polyester industry.