KARACHI: A plunge of around 26 per cent in phutti (seed cotton) arrivals has sent shockwaves in the entire cotton economy, from growers to textile and clothing sectors.

According to official figures issued by Pakistan Cotton Ginners’ Association (PCGA) on Saturday, the country’ cotton production since the start of this season to Sept 30 stood at 3.073 million bales compared to 4.135m bales during the same period of last season. This means the country’s output was down by 1.061 million during period under review

Despite higher acreage of cultivated land under cotton crop this season (2015-16), the crop suffered a major setback because of heavy rain and floods and post monsoon spells both in Sindh and Punjab.

Output in Punjab, which produces around 80pc of the commodity, suffered a decline of 32.7pc, or around 650,000 bales, to 1.331m bales this season from 1.978 bales during the comparable period of the last season.

Cotton production in the Sindh province witnessed a shortfall of 19pc to 1.741m bales as against 2.155m bales during the same period last season. This means the province’s output was lower by 414,000 bales this season compared to a year ago.

Strong demand for cotton amid short supply is pushing its prices higher with each passing day. By contrast, the dynamics of the world cotton market are quite the opposite where prices are under pressure amid surplus supply.

The flow of phutti from cotton fields to ginneries during the Sept 15-30 fortnight remained extremely slow as only 875,524 bales reached ginning factories compared to 1.385m bales in the corresponding period of last year.

Exporters have purchased 230,190 bales so far this season compared to 149,528 bales a year earlier. However, the textile industry procured less cotton at 2.213m bales compared to 3.322m bales in the comparable period of last season.

The unsold stocks of cotton lying with ginners, however, remained close to that of last season. Up to Sept 30, they were holding unsold stocks of 630,235 bales compared to 663,966 bales a year ago.

The number of ginning factories operational at the cou­ntry is 753 at present — 507 in Punjab and 246 in Sindh.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play