MULTAN: Cotton production fell by 20.3 per cent to 8.6 million bales till March 1 this season against 10.7m bales in the same period last year, the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) said on Tuesday.

In its fortnightly report, the PCGA noted that the production of cotton bales went down by 2.2m in the current season.

According to the PCGA figures till March 1, Punjab suffered cotton production losses by up to 22.8pc, followed by Sindh with 16.3pc.

Punjab produced 5.9m bales against last year’s 6.5m bales – highlighting a shortfall of 1.6m bales. Sindh produced 3.5m bales against last year’s 4.2m bales — a fall of 0.8m bales.

Till March 1, ginning factories produced 8.6m bales during the current season.

A fall of 15.9pc and 42.7pc was noted in purchase by the textile sector and exporters — a shortfall of 7.9m bales and 58,666 bales, respectively.

Total 31 factories remained functional in Sindh and Punjab.

Unsold stocks of 577,271 bales were available with ginners compared to 1.2m bales in the same period last year.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2020