KARACHI: Sustained growth in cotton production reached 10.685 million bales during the last fortnight (Dec 1-15). A 5.30 per cent increase has been witnessed over the corresponding period last year when production stood at 10.147m bales.

The latest cotton production figures issued by Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association on Monday showed higher growth in Sindh’s cotton production at 4.136 million bales, an increase of 11.70pc over the same period last year when production stood at 3.703m bales. The province produced around 433,275 more cotton bales so far over last year.

Against this, cotton production in Punjab during the period under review recorded a modest increase at 6.549m bales or 1.63pc higher over the corresponding period last year when production was at 6.444m bales. Overall, the province produced 104,765 more bales over the last year.

The net impact of higher production by the two provinces resulted in production of 538,040 more bales so far (till Dec 15, 2017). If the current growth rate continues for the remaining cotton season, lint production may reach 11.5m bales, cotton analysts Naseem Usman said.

It is encouraging that the textile industry has purchased higher quantity of cotton at 8.849m bales compared to 8.451m bales lifted by spinners in the same period.

Similarly, exporters also booked more cotton at 213,630 bales as against 194,844 bales in the same period last season.

It is encouraging to note that arrival of phutti (seed cotton) from cotton fields into ginneries is still higher over the corresponding period of last year.

According to the figures shared by the ginners’ body, 553,907 bales reached ginneries up to Dec 15, 2017 compared to 389,490 bales in the same period last year. This means that the flow of phutti was higher by 184,417 bales.

The ginners are also holding larger quantity of cotton up till now at 1.623m bales as against 1.501m bales they held in the corresponding period last season.

In total, 826 ginning factories are operational. Of these, 597 units are in Punjab and 229 in Sindh. This is a strong indicator that substantial quantity of un-ginned cotton is still available for ginneries.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2017