April 4, 2003	Friday	Safar 1, 1424

MULTAN, April 3: The cotton arrival at the ginneries for the year 2002-03 decreased by 4.33 per cent as compared to total production of last year.

According to the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association figure released on Thursday, the season ended with a total arrival of 9.67 million bales at the ginneries across the country, while the output last year was 10.1 million bales. Cotton production shows as decline both in Punjab and Sindh.

According to the PCGA report, Punjab produced 7.4 million bales this year, as against 7.7 million bales last year. Similarly, Sindh produced 2.2 million bales against last year’s 2.3 million bales.

Of the bales arrived at the ginneries, as much as 9 million bales have been sold out, thus leaving the unsold stock of 0.67 million on April 1.

The textile sector has so far procured 8.8 million bales, while the exporters emerged as the second largest buyers with the procurement of 137,782 bales. The Trading Corporation of Pakistan has not bought any until the release of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association’s last report.

Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association sources claimed that unsold stock some 150,000 bales are lying with the ginneries of textile mill owners. Therefore, the available unsold stock is merely 0.5 million bales, they added.