KARACHI: China has offered to buy “any amount” of Pakistan cotton, with a minimum of three lakh bales every year, Dawn reliably understands. The offer, Dawn learns, is contained in a formal proposal for a two-year trade agreement made by the Central People’s Republic of China to the Government of Pakistan. China also wants to buy from Pakistan 10,000 tons of jute (about 50,000 bales) every year. In return, China has offered coal, mustard oil, cotton and silk textiles, and a variety of other consumer goods.

Unless China insists on the fixation of the price of cotton, a trade pact between the two countries is likely to be signed before the month is out. The Pakistan Government are not prepared to fix the price of cotton which is exported without any restriction on price or quantity. It is felt China will continue to buy cotton in the free market as it has been doing since the establishment of Pakistan.

The Chinese textile industry consumes well over one million bales of cotton annually. Its cotton production varies between 6 lakhs to one million bales. — Staff correspondent

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2026