LAHORE: The arrival of cotton at factories till Feb 15 across the country this year has been reported to be over 32 per cent more than the same period last year.

According to the data available with the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association, more than 7.434 million bales arrived at the ginning factories by Feb 15, while this volume was 5.616 million bales by this day last year, a difference of around 1.818 million bales or an increase of 32.37pc.

Cotton Brokers Association chief Naseem Usman attributes this increase to an early start and thus early closure of cotton ginning season this year and refers to the fact that at present only 17 ginning factories are in operation against 59 in the month of February last year.

Taking advantage of the early arrival of cotton and in view of higher rates of white lint in the global markets, local textile mills also made heavy purchases. The millers have so far bought over 7.295 million bales against around 5.231 million bales last year, showing an increase of 39.46pc.

Because of this heavy buying, the ginners are left with over 60pc less stock than what was available with them at this time last year – 1.236 million bales against 3.152 million bales the previous year.

Despite better prices in the world market, the export of cotton saw a drop of over 77pc this year. For, only 16,000 bales have so far been exported this season as compared with 70,200 bales exported last season.

There are 4,704 bales ye to be ginned with the factories against 21,596 bales last year, a difference of 78.22pc.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2022