MULTAN, Nov 19: Cotton arrivals at the ginneries has maintained a higher trend as the latest figures of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association shows 43.77 per cent increase in the cotton output as compared to the same period last year.

According to a PCGA statement, as many as 8.15m bales of cotton had reached the 1001 ginneries across the country by November 15, 2004, as against the 5.66m bales during the corresponding period last year.

There was an increase of about 51 per cent in cotton arrival up to the fortnight ended on November 1, 2004, as compared to the same period last year. Of the total bales arrived so far at the ginneries, 6.35m had come from Punjab while 1.79m from Sindh. Last year, some 4.56m bales had come from Punjab and 1.1m bales from Sindh by November 15.

As much as 6.82m bales had been ginned. Of the ginned bales, 5.65m had been procured by the textile sector against its procurement of 4m bales during the corresponding period last year.

Trading Corporation of Pakistan, which had bought no bale by November 15 last year, had procured 285,000 bales by the same time this year. However, the TCP intervention in the cotton market has failed to ensure the minimum fixed price of Rs925 per 40kg of phutti (seed cotton) to the growers.

Exporters, too, are proved to be active in the cotton trading this year with the procurement of 213,500 bales as against the buying of only 126,143 bales up to the corresponding period last year. The unsold stock from the ginned bales by November 15 was 669,347, which was 699,761 during the same period last year.

The average bale weight is 166kg against the standard bale weight of 170kg. Thus, a difference of almost 200,000 bales has derived out if one calculates the number of bales arrived at the ginneries on the basis of standard average bale weight of 170kg.