Cotton arrival shows 21.09pc decline

MULTAN: Cotton arrival indicators have shown decline in production as compared to the last year’s crop. According to the fortnightly report of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association, the cotton production has registered 21.09pc decline in 2018/19 season. The report says over 7.861 million bales of Phutti have arrived at ginning factories across the country as compared to 9.962 million bales reached ginning factories during the same corresponding period of last year.

The Punjab province, which contributes lion’s share in cotton production, remained the prime loser in achieving the production target this year. The province faced crop decline up to 24.52pc. It received 4,467,135 bales as compared to the corresponding period of last year when the province received 5,918,023 bales.

The Sindh province also lost production up to 16.8pc. The ginning factories in Sindh have received 3,394,068 bales till December 15. The province had produced 4,044,634 bales during the same corresponding period of last year.

Four south Punjab districts have recorded huge decline in cotton production. The Vehari cotton production dropped to 53.99pc, Lodhran 47pc, Multan 38.28pc and Muzaffargarh 35.81pc.

Three central Punjab districts, including Toba Tek Singh, Faisalabad and Jhang, are known for rich cotton production, but the districts have lost production massively. The Jhang district has lost 44.16pc crop size, Toba Tek Singh 39.87pc and Faisalabad 33.74pc. The Nawabshah district in Sindh has recorded 44.41pc decrease in cotton production and Khairpur 25.15pc. A grower from Khairpur, Bashir Malah, said that the sudden attack by locust massively destroyed cash crop when the bowls were ready to pick and millions of locust swarms devastated the crop at a large scale in interior Sindh districts. Pakistan Kisan Committee president Iqbal Malik blamed the govt’s poor policies responsible for decline in cotton production.

The district-wise crop arrival is Multan 124,264 bales, Lodhran 64,230 bales, Khanewal 347,000, Muzaffargarh 2,249 bales, Rajanpur 270,505 bales, Layyah 1,249 bales, Vehari 189,942 bales, Sahiwal 187,565 bales, Rahimyar Khan 937,795 bales, Bahawalpur 538,389 bales, Bahawalnagar 838,163 bales, Mirpur Khas 126,815 bales, Nawab Shah 29,628 bales, Naushero Feroz 33,464 bales, Khairpur 274,237 bales, Sukkur 475,522 bales, Jamshoro 94,740 bales and Hyderabad 213,799 bales. Sanghar district of Sindh continued to remain on top with cotton arrival figures of over 1.1 million bales.

The ginning factories have ginned 7,543,195 bales of Phutti. The exporters and textile sector could procure 52,160 bales and 6,536,688 bales respectively. However, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan did not procure a single bale from ginners during the current crop season. The numbers of 320 ginning factories remained functional in Punjab and prepared 3,273,635 bales.