January 5, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 4, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 4: The country is likely to face a shortfall of around 2.5 million cotton bales as phutti (seed cotton) arrivals at ginneries registered a steep fall of 14.17 per cent at 11.246 million bales compared to last year when the total arrivals stood at 13.102 million bales.

Both the cotton producing provinces – Sindh and Punjab – recorded a fall of around 13 to 15 per cent in cotton production up to January 1, 2006, bringing a combined effect of around 14.17 per cent in country’s total production.

According to official figures for the fortnight (Dec 15, 2005 to Jan 1, 2006), flow of phutti remained slow and ginneries received less quantity by 0.331 million bales at 1.026 million bales as against 1.357 million bales received in the corresponding period last year.

With the passage of time there is a growing gap between estimated cotton production and local industry’s consumption and according to industry estimates there would be a shortage of around 2.5 million bales in case the country manages to produce around 12.5 million bales in 2005-06 season.

The province of Sindh produced around 2.349 million bales during the period under review, thereby, showing a fall of 12.97 per cent over the corresponding period last year when production stood at 2.699 million bales.

Presently around 203 ginning factories are operating in the province as against 198 units last year.

Similarly, phutti arrivals in the Punjab also remained short by 14.48 per cent at 8.896 million bales compared to 10.403 million bales received during the same period last year.

Fairly a higher number of ginning factories are still operating in the province. In all 881 units are functioning compared to 822 units remained under production during the same period last year.

Out of the total cotton production of 11.246 million bales recorded up to January 1, 2006, spinners have purchased around 8.617 million bales and private sector exporters lifted a nominal quantity of 59,700 bales. A balance of around 1.913 million bales was lying unsold with the ginneries.

Vice chairman of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Mushtaq Vohra told Dawn that the industry’s cotton requirements presently stood at around 14 million bales and this shows a gap of around 2.5 million bales between demand and supply as cotton production estimates for this season are 12.5 million bales.

However, he said that the spinners have already imported around one million bales, therefore, the gap has been narrowed down to 1.5 million bales. The Aptma, he said, would like the government to release TCP stocks of around 0.4 million bales from last season’s cotton and allow open-end spinning industry to use it as they do not need high quality cotton.

Mr Vohra said by doing so the country could save millions of dollars as the gap between demand and supply will narrow down to only one million bales which could be imported by the spinning industry to see its current season through.

He said cotton in the world market is presently being quoted at around 52 cents per pound and in case the TCP disposes off its last year’s stocks, it could fetch around 43 cents per lb. Consequently, by allowing open-end spinners to use the old crop the country could save around 9 cents per lb if the same has to be imported.

He was critical of the government for shutting off gas supply to 117 textiles mills in the Punjab and said that this will badly affect their export commitments and ultimately worsen the balance of payments position of the country as exports will fall short of the estimated target.

Vohra suggested that fertilizer industry, which undergo annual maintenance in the month of June, should be asked to shift the work to December or January, so that it could give some relief to gas consumption during the peak winter season and also allow other industries to keep their normal production in the larger interest of the country.

He said fertilizer industry presently consumes around 14 per cent of gas in the system where as 117 textile units were consuming around 4 to 5 per cent.

Therefore, if the suggested shift in maintenance period of fertilizer units was followed, it would benefit both and also help textile industry to keep contributing towards national exports in difficult phase of WTO quota-free regime.