LAHORE: The cotton arrivals in ginning factories by Oct 31 across the country remained 82 per cent higher than the production of the crop for the same period last year.

The data released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) on Friday showed that around 6.8 million bales arrived at the ginning factories till Oct 31 which is 82pc more on a year-on-year basis.

The previous year only 3.7m bales had been registered as the crop had been damaged by floods and heavy rains in the cotton belt witnessing a 34pc YoY decline.

The PCGA says that cotton arrivals rose 13.3pc during the last fortnight.

Punjab ginning factories reported only a 43pc increase or 2.99m bales against 2.09m bales for the same period last year.

Ginners complain lint prices falling as TCP is still inactive

The ginning sector in Sindh, which was the most affected province in the 2022 floods, registered a record 132pc surge in cotton arrivals as the ginning units in the province received 3.79m bales against 1.63m bales the previous year.

During 2023-24, the total domestic production of cotton is likely to remain between 9 and 9.5m bales, around 2m bales short of the target of 11.5m bales set by the Federal Committee on Agriculture, says Karachi Cotton Brokers Forum chairman Naseem Usman.

He expects 1.8m to 2m more cotton bales in the rest of the season, arguing that during the same period last year, around 1.3m cotton bales had reached the ginning factories despite floods.

So far textile mills have purchased 5.8m bales, over 91pc more than the previous year’s 3.03m bales. Exporters and traders, including a foreign firm, have procured 0.279m bales against just 49,000 bales in the last year. The ginners are maintaining a stock of 0.713m bales.

Cotton Ginners Forum chairman Ihsan-ul-Haq attributes the exporters’ buying trend to the good quality of the white lint because of fewer rains this year.

He, however, is irked by the feet-dragging of the federal government on its promise of ensuring the minimum rate of at least Rs8,500 per 40kg of cotton in the open market throughout the season.

“Though cotton rates have dropped to Rs7,000 per 40kg, the federal government has not yet started purchasing cotton from ginners through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) as had been promised.”

He holds the textile millers responsible for the government’s inaction, alleging representatives of major textile groups both in the federal and Punjab cabinets are influencing the decision-making on the purchase of cotton.

Mr Haq recalls that at a PCGA seminar in Multan on the World Cotton Day on Oct 7 Punjab Agriculture Minister S.M. Tanveer had announced the “good news” that the TCP would begin purchasing cotton from ginners in a couple of days.

The statement was later made subject to the permission of the Economic Coordination Committee, he regrets, adding that two meetings of the ECC have been held since then but without making the issue a part of the agenda.

This, he says, is causing serious concerns among the farmers and may affect cotton cultivation next year.

He fears that because of an extraordinary hike of 193pc in the gas rate for the textile export sector, the cost of production will go sharply up, affecting textile exports and resulting in a further decline in prices in the local cotton market.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2023