MULTAN, Nov 8: A total of 4.737 million bales of cotton have reached the ginning factories till Nov 1, 2005 compared to last year’s 6.258 million bales, showing a production shortfall of 24.30 per cent.

According to the fortnightly report issued by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) here on Tuesday, in 20 cotton-growing districts of Punjab a total of 33,35,712 bales arrived at the factories compared to last year’s 48,27,833 bales on the same date. So, the crop had shown a steep shortfall of 48.11 per cent.

In nine districts of Sindh, the production had been estimated so far at 1,401,780 bales compared to last year’s 1,430,736 bales, showing a nominal decrease in output. A PCGA spokesman told APP that in view of the shortfall in production the cotton rates had slightly gone upward. The government’s support price rate for phutti is Rs975 per 40 kg and that of lint Rs2,269 per maund.—APP