KARACHI, Nov 5: As phutti (seed cotton) arrival in Punjab has picked up during last fortnight (Oct 15-31), the over all raw cotton production in the country also increased by 2.33 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

The arrival figures of phutti released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) show that up to November 1, 2002, 3.352m bales have reached the ginneries as against 3.275m in the same period last year.

In Punjab, higher arrival of phutti from the field into the ginneries improved the production by 7.26 per cent over the last year’s production in the same period. In total 2.372m are reported to have been processed by the ginneries as against 2.212m bales in the corresponding period last year.

Nevertheless, there is a declining trend in the arrival of phutti in the province of Sindh where up to Nov 1, 2002, 0.979m bales have reached the ginneries compared to 1.034m bales recorded in the same period last year. This show a fall of 7.93 per cent in raw cotton production in Sindh so far.

It is encouraging that during last fortnight the arrival of phutti was higher by 0.117m bales at 1.682m bales over the corresponding period last year when it stood at 1.564m bales.

If the current level of arrival maintains up to second picking of the phutti it will ensure that the country would be in a position to achieve the estimated target of 10.5m bales.

However, with world cotton scenario is not much encouraging where experts predicts that there will be a fall of over 10 per cent in production, Pakistan will have to manage its domestic need from local production.

Even then a sizable quantity of extra length fibre is annually imported by the spinners to meet their export contracts as well as high quality made-ups produced by some leading exporters to meet the quality conscious markets of the west.

During period under review the spinners purchased 2.072m bales as against 2.028m bales lifted in the corresponding period last year. A nominal quantity of 1,807 bales have been purchased by exporters, while TCP is yet to enter the market.