February 13, 2002	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 29, 1422

KARACHI, Feb 12: Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has started procurement of grade III cotton at Rs1,855 per maund (37.32 kg) to stabilize the prices.

The director, TCP, Abdul Malik said here on Tuesday that the corporation has asked its centres to begin cotton procurement immediately.

The government has asked TCP last week to immediately start procurement of one million bales of cotton to ensure fair prices to growers and stabilize the market.

“Our nine centres including one in upper Sindh (Sukkur) and eight in Pubjab have started cotton procurement from today (Tuesday),” Malik said.

He said the procurement campaign will get momentum in a day or two.

TCP’s Rahimyar Khan centre was already procuring contamination-free cotton while another centre in Dera Murad Jamali, Balochistan is busy in procuring entire cotton from the area.

The TCP had procured 120,700 bales including 4,600 bales of contamination-free cotton when the prices went beyond government’s announced prices and the corporation suspended its operation.—APP