Cotton arrivals plunge 34pc as crop failure occurs

KARACHI: Cotton arrivals into ginneries fell 34 percent to 5.64 million bales till March 15 compared to 8.57 million bales in the same period last year due to monsoon rains and pest attacks with the government still dragging feet on announcing new support price, sources said on Thursday.

Out of total arrivals, 70,200 bales were exported, up 19.6 percent from 58,666 bales last year, according to Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association. Approximately, 5.44 million bales have been sold to mills, down 32 percent against last year’s 8 million bales.

Currently, 125,914 bales are in stocks with the ginners, down 75 percent compared to 503,458 bales remained in stocks last year.

Karachi Cotton Brokers Association Chairman Naseem Usman told The News expected six million bales during the current season would not be enough to not fulfill even half of the demand in the country.

Usman said cotton sowing has started in lower Sindh where several farmers are avoiding cotton crop, which caused them losses for several years.

“No incentive has been announced yet for them,” he said. “Any delay in announcement of support price will have negative impact on cotton production. It should be announced immediately as sowing has already started.”

Fortnightly flows (Mar 1 to Mar-15) were down two percent at 5,776 bales as against flows of 5,885 bales during the same period last year. Punjab recorded arrivals of 3.5 million bales, down 31.2 percent, against arrivals of 5.09 million bales by the same period last year.

Arrivals from Sindh were down 38.5 percent to 2.13 million bales as against 3.47 million bales arrived in the ginning factories by the same period last year.

In a meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday Food Security Minister Fakhar Imam said cotton growers need to be given confidence and relief and will be given incentives by the federal and provincial governments in form of cotton-specific subsidies. Subsidy on pesticides for whitefly and pink bollworm and subsidies on cotton seed will be given to cotton growers, he said.

The minister advised against the mixing of cotton varieties as it lowers the quality of cotton and to reduce trash content in cotton that can lead to lower profitability. He also advised district wise monitoring of cotton growth and said a total of 6 million bales of cotton are expected to be grown this year.

There are three major varieties of cotton seed available in the country. Total 23,000 tons of certified cotton seeds are available with a germination percentage of 75 percent compared to a 47 percent germination rate last year. Punjab Seed Council has introduced 17 new varieties including a double-gene variety whereas Sindh has introduced 3 varieties.

Ministers and secretaries of agriculture from all provinces were present at the meeting to revive, resuscitate and refresh cotton cultivation. In Sindh, out of 341 cotton gins, only about half are functioning due to declining cotton production.

Sindh provincial agriculture ministry estimated Rs3 billion for the revival of cotton crop in the province in terms of research, genetic engineering amongst other services for the farmers.