KARACHI, Feb 18: The arrivals of cotton fell by 13.74 per cent to 12 million bales till February 15, 2006 compared to 14.152 million bales over the same period of last year.

According to a fortnightly report of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) issued here on Saturday showed that out of the total production of 12.207 million bales the textile mills purchased 10.094 million bales from ginners, while private sector exporters bought 70,500 bales and the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) remained inactive.

The PCGA said that the total unsold stock had been estimated at more than 2.042 million bales till February 15.

Sindh produced about 2.526 million bales, showing a fall of 14.85 per cent over the previous year while arrivals from Punjab were down by 13.45 per cent to 9.681 million bales.

Sindh had produced more than 2.967 million bales during the same period last year while Punjab reaped over 11.185 million bales.

A total of 340 ginning factories operated in the country during the period under review, of which 314 were functioning in Punjab while 26 in Sindh.—APP