KARACHI, Dec 4: The fortnightly arrival of phutti (seed cotton), twice the quantity of last year, shows that the country is poised to harvest bumper cotton crop this season (2004-05) , and it may even exceed all time high production of around 12.1 million bales recorded in 1991-92 season.

According to figures released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), arrival of phutti during last fortnight (Nov 15 to Dec 1, 2004) was 1.937 million bales as against 0.917 million bales of the corresponding period last year, registering a surge of 1.019 million bales over last year.

Consequently, the overall arrival of phutti in the country was up by 53.15 per cent at 10.088 million bales from 6.587 million bales recorded in the same period last year.

Cotton crop analysts feel that since second picking was in progress this would mean that a fairly big quantity of cotton was still in the fields of both the cotton growing provinces of Sindh and the Punjab. However, some dispute the real size of the crop and argue that since the cotton bale weight has been reduced to 166.58kg it was natural that the number of bales would increase.

Nevertheless, field survey, taken by private sector, strongly indicates that the crop size was much higher than what was the previous year and estimates it at around 13 million bales.

As the textile industry has expanded its capacity and also underwent extensive BMR during last four years by investing around $4 billion there would be higher domestic consumption of cotton, which is being estimated to exceed 13 million bales.

The PCGA figures further disclose that arrival of phutti in Sindh during period under review stood higher by 71.20 per cent at 2.171 million bales as against 1.268 million bales recorded in the same period last year. Presently, l98 ginning units are operating in the province.

Similarly, fabulous rise at 48.85 per cent has been registered in phutti arrival in the Punjab at 7.917 million bales compared to 5.318 million bales recorded in the corresponding period last year.

Since the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has been procuring cotton to keep the prices of phutti above the minimum support price it has so far lifted around 0.616 million bales. However, due to pressure on prices the cotton prices continue to fall despite the fact that the TCP had been active since the inception of the current cotton season. Private sector exporters also purchased substantial quantity of 0.270 million bales.

The textile industry, the biggest buyer of cotton so far, purchased 6.992 million bales as against 4.743 million bales lifted by the industry in the same period last year. The ginners are presently holding around 2,208 million bales as against 1.706 million bales held by them in the same period last year.

In total 1,012 ginning units are operating in the country out of these 814 units are operating in the Punjab and 198 in Sindh.