KARACHI, Oct 16: Mill cotton consumption is set to reach an all-time annual record of about 10.5 million bales during the current year, which ended in September 2001.

According to official figures (Sept 2000-June 2001) released by the Textile Commissioner, the organized sector comprising 400 odd units have already consumed over 8 million bales during the last 10 months of the year and the remaining two months’ intake could touch the high mark of 2 million bales.

The unorganized sector, on an overage, consumes between 0.5 to 0.8 million bales each year, that may push the total consumption figure to 10.5 million bales, a new record for the textile industry.

Spinners claim that higher mill intake could mean higher exports and more foreign exchange earnings during this period, but apprehend that the same will tapper off in coming months when export orders, which are in the pipeline, will exhaust.

“Apart from revival of more than a 100 sick textile units, the larger consumption will be largely due to expansion undertaken by the textile sector,” a leading spinner said.

However, the textile industry is presently facing difficulty in selling its yarn even at a break even price. But due to normal quantum of export orders, raw cotton consumption for next two months would stay on the higher side, exporters said.

“I would say the real impact on textile export would start emerging early next year when the industry will not have any orders in hand to process,” chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) Mohammad Kamran Chandna told Dawn.

The chairman APTMA, Sindh-Balochistan Zone, Mushtaq Ahmed Vohra told Dawn that after Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the demand for yarn in the domestic as well as world market dropped sharply.

He said yarn, which was being sold for $300 per bundle in the world market, was now fetching not more than $250 to $260 per bundle.

Similarly, he said, consumption by the local textile ancillaries had been low, which had also put pressure on local yarn prices.

“The mills could not hold back their production, and to meet their liabilities arising out of utility bills, wages and bank loans, they are compelled to sell their cotton yarn at falling prices,” Vohra said.

On the other hand, he said, the government policy to allow TCP to procure one million bales had once again pushed raw cotton price to Rs1700 per maund.

He regretted that the government was not allowing the local textile mills to participate in TCP’s sales of cotton, which results in giving cheaper raw material to foreign competitors.

Instead of seeking TCP’s intervention in stabilizing cotton prices, the government should directly give subsidy to growers by opening ‘fair price shops’, he said.

Mushtaq Ahmed Vohra said presently the cash-strapped growers were unable to use pesticide, which was badly needed to protect their standing crops against pest attack.

Therefore, he suggested that the government in order to save the cash crop should immediately introduce ‘fair price shops’ system, and allow the grower to purchase pesticide on paying 10 per cent of the cost.