February 9, 2002	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 25, 1422

KARACHI, Feb 8: The chairman, Aptma Nadeem Maqbool has said that the hue and cry created by ginners over unsold stocks is uncalled for, and advised the TCP to refrain from interfering in the market mechanism at this juncture.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Aptma chief, contradicting the claim of the chairman Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), said that despite world-wide recession in textiles and decline of 33 per cent in dollar value of exports to US during the month of January 2002, there is a sustained off-take of cotton by the mills.

Nadeem Maqbool said that till last month textile mills had bought 6.9 million bales of cotton as against 7.3 million bales during the same period last year.

Furthermore, he said, the mills have bought 692,668 bales during in January as against 291,762 bales in January last year showing an increase of 137 per cent in cotton purchases for the month.

Quoting PCGA’s phutti arrival figures the Aptma chief said the unsold stock of pressed cotton as on Jan 31, 2002 was 1.5 million bales as against 1.4 million bales on the same date last year.

Consequently, he said these figures clearly prove that despite slow arrival of cotton as compared to last year and depressed textile exports as a result of events of Sept 11, textile mills have bought cotton in quantities almost equal to last year.

He said that the textile industry and its exports are passing through a very difficult period due to negative international developments and as such there was an urgent need for government policies and supportive actions to ensure the viability of the both.