June 5, 2002	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23,1423

KARACHI, June 4: The ex-farm production of cotton during the current season rose to 10.9m bales, up by two per cent from the previous year, ensuring a larger exportable surplus after meeting the home demand, according to official sources.

The marketing and economic research committee of the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC), which met here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Shafi Niaz, adviser to the chief executive on food and agriculture, lauded the efforts to produce contamination-free cotton in Rahimyar Khan and suggested to expand the programme to other areas also during the current season.

The committee was optimistic about the next crop and hoped it will be getting higher price owing to decline in global production and a modest increase in consumption.

However, it expressed concern over the larger import (1.3m bales) of cotton by the spinners, notably of those varieties, which are available in the country.

The committee urged the government to implement decision taken earlier to maintain the average per bale weight at 170 kg instead of the current 165 kg despite Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association’s (PCGA) assurance to motivate ginners to adhere to the decided per bale weight.