LAHORE: The country has by Aug 31 harvested over 3.041 million bales, which is almost double than the last year’s figures for the period under review, reveals data released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA).

To the relief of the textile industry, the country is all set to cross the 10m bales mark during the ongoing crop year of cotton cutting down the mills’ requirements to import lint from abroad. Last year, Pakistan had produced over 4.9m bales during the whole 2022-23 season.

According to the PCGA production data, the arrival of cotton at ginning factories across the country by Aug 31 was over 3.041m bales, which is a record 98 per cent more than for the same period in the previous year.

Cotton Ginners Forum chairman Ihsanul Haq attributes the better production this year to a promising crop in Sindh province, which has so far produced 1.97m bales that is 136pc more output than the same period previous year.

Punjab, in the meantime, has produced 1.69m bales, which is only 52pc more than the same period last year. The reason for this comparatively low output is mainly due to the fact that cotton cultivation in the province remained below the target, he says, quoting data released by the agriculture department.

Due to continuous increase in the value of US dollar, imported cotton is very expensive and textile miller as well as a foreign firm is also purchasing large quantities of cotton from Pakistan this year. This firm has so far purchased 169,000 bales, while the textile mills have bought a total of 2.615m bales. At least 257,000 bales are still lying with the ginning factories for sale.

In Sindh province, most of the cotton has arrived in Sanghar district that is 1.185m bales. The reason is that the coastal districts Badin, Thatta and Umar Kot give a good cotton yield but because of lack of ginning factories there, all this produce is hauled to Sanghar.

Mr Haq claims that cotton production so far has crossed the mark of four million bales because there has been an undocumented trade of at least 0.7m to 0.8m bales.

The undocumented cotton trade, he adds, is gaining currency because of imposition of heavy taxes on the sector.

The leader of the ginners body says that they welcome the implementation of “trace and tracking” system by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and demand extending the scope of this system to the entire textile sector to document and strengthen the national economy.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2023