Cotton arrivals fall 27 percent to 2.9 million bales

KARACHI: Cotton arrivals in ginning factories fell 27 percent to 2.93 million bales till September 30 as pest attacks adversely affected production of the industrial crop, industry’s data showed on Thursday.

Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) said cotton arrivals in ginning factories till the same period last year were recorded at 4.02 million bales. Kabool Khatian, chairman of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture said growers are removing cotton from their fields, as the crop was badly affected by pests that emerged after rainfalls. “Production is feared to decline around 35 percent till the end of the season,” he said.

Of total, 2.29 million bales were sold to textile mills and 34,597 bales to exporters, while 636,472 bales remained unsold. This year’s fortnightly flow (September 16-30) was recorded at 1.08 million bales as against 1.50 million bales arrived in the ginning factories during the corresponding period last year, PCGA said.

Arrivals from Sindh were recorded at 1.76 million bales, down 19.74 percent, while arrivals from the Punjab dropped 35.87 percent to 1.16 million bales. Highest arrivals from one station were recorded from Sanghar with 919,433 bales followed by Hyderabad with 158,316 bales.

Khatian said prices remained lower in the local market despite decline in cotton arrivals. Cotton seeds were being sold around Rs3,200 per maund. They traded at Rs4,000 per maund for one week. It takes 2.5 maunds of cotton seeds to produce one maund of lint. “Cost of production has increased and growers will get no profit on cotton this year,” he added.

Khatian further said cottonseed is not clean this year due to apathy of a research facility. Per acre yield remained 16 maunds on an average amid unavailability of Bt (genetically modified) cotton, while cost of production rose to nearly Rs40,000 per acre. “Thus, around half of the production was just to cover cost of cultivation,” he added.

Sindh Chamber of Agriculture chairman called for policies to promote cottonseed culture, which takes several years in development. “So far, none of the research institutes including Tandojam, Multan and Faisalabad have developed any variety of cottonseed and the government’s promises regarding improvement of fertility and subsidy have not been fulfilled,” he added. “Pest- resistant seeds could have sustained the bad weather.”

Khatian said inclement weather and corruption in public institutes ruined the growers. “With a decline in cotton production, textile exports would badly be affected, as imported cotton would be costly and local exporters would not be able to compete in the international market.”

Stakeholders are expecting around 11 million bales of cotton this year as against the government estimate of 15 million bales. The country will have to import around four million bales to fill demand and supply gap.

Contracts have already been placed for the import of 1.2 million bales, which would cost around $1.5 billion. Cotton imports have officially been started from Afghanistan with reopening of Torkham border, which would support the local industry, they added.