AIDED by a concessional loan scheme, and encouraged by growth prospects in cotton sector, the ginning sector has attracted multi-billion rupees investment over the last three years.

With the setting up of a ginning research institute in Multan within this year, for which a sum of Rs179 million has been recently released, the ginneries may be helped to play a more productive role in textile value-addition chain in future.

In FY10, at least 40 new ginning factories were set up with an estimated investment of Rs3 billion. Of them 30 were located in Sindh and 10 in Punjab. That was the first major investment in this sector after a long gap. The trend continued through FY11 and FY12 though the pace moderated somewhat.

Industry sources estimate more than Rs5 billion-investment in capacity enhancement of ginneries during the last three years. “We don’t have exact data right now but even most conservative estimates show that 50-60 new ginning plants have been installed so far since mid-2010 and a greater number of plants have undergone extensive balancing, modernisation and replacement (BMR,)” an official of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association told Dawn.

He said that a SBP refinancing scheme initiated in mid-2010 had greatly facilitated fresh investment in ginning sector. That scheme had made it possible for ginners to avail bank loans at eight, nine or 10 per cent annual interest rates for setting up new local or imported plant and machinery or for BMR of existing ginning mills. The rates depended on the loan tenures i.e., three years, five years or 10 years.

New ginning mills had come up in FY10 chiefly in those areas of Sindh and Punjab where the super floods of July-September 2010 had damaged a large portion of cotton fields. “Landlords of those areas made a clever investment in ginning mills, taking advantage of the financial relief package offered by the government,” said an official of Karachi Cotton Association.

“I personally know some big landlords of Sindh who set up new ginning mills in Kotri, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Sanghar.

Perhaps they thought that instead of lamenting damages to cotton crop they should make cheap investment in ginning mills. Another factor that encouraged them to invest in this area was that importers had flooded the market with low-priced ginning plants, particularly from China and India.”

Cotton ginners say that in addition to installation of new or refurbished ginning plants, some people have also resorted to BMR of their existing plants to increase the ‘ginning outturn’ — or the ratio of the lint by weight to the weight of seed cotton. In Pakistan, ginning outturn has not improved much over the years because of very old plants and machinery and lack of proper periodical maintenance. Industry sources say that after fresh investment in this sector, average ginning outturn is estimated to have risen to 34 per cent from 32.2 per cent in 2008, but it is still lower than the handsome 42 per cent in India.

Increasing the efficiency of cotton ginning mills is of immense importance for getting higher profits, and, in turn, benefiting the growers. This can also spare textile millers from paying premiums for better-ginned cotton.

“This is an area where there is a lot of room for research and out-of-the box thinking and technology innovation,” says Chairman of PCGA Mahesh Kumar.

Research initiatives, particularly their positive outcomes, should lead to better production practices and higher ginning outturns in over 1300 ginning factories. “One of the areas where research focus is vital is on-field mini ginneries,” says a progressive cotton grower from Badin district. “These ginneries actually carry out the pre-cleaning process of seed cotton which is easier just after cotton picking.”

Pre-ginning process includes drying of seed cotton and cleaning it for removing such impurities like immature bolls, sticks, bracts and other vegetable material or bark, leaf, pepper trash, grass, hulls, seed coat fragments and motes left behind in the lint. If the cotton seeds, pre-cleaned of these impurities right on the farm, go to ginning plants the actual ginning to be undertaken there would become smooth. “But the objective cannot be achieved without safer transportation because experience tells us that seed cotton taken from farm to ginneries gathers many foreign agents.”

When actual ginning starts the first phase is extractor feeding or even feeding of seed cotton for ginning and extraction of even the minutest impurities. Then separation of lint from seed cotton takes place at the ginning stand and ginned cotton is again cleaned for the last time before it is pressed into bales in a different machine. So, it is not just one machine, it’s rather a series of machines and plants that are used in cotton ginning. Obtaining the best quality and quantity of ginned cotton depends on optimal functioning of all these plants and machines under a well-aligned plan. “Here, again not just the mechanical aspect of the process has to be perfect but workers handling the machines must also be smart,” said another progressive cotton grower.

The sector accounts for just five per cent in the value-added chain of the textile sector, according to Economic Survey of Pakistan. A study conducted in 2008 shows that increasing the share of ginning in textile sector value-chain has the potential to bring prosperity to at least 1.5 million rural people. This aim is worthy enough for directing focus on improvement of both mechanical and human resources of the ginning mills.

On mechanical side, the biggest issue is that despite installation of new plants and revamping of the old ones during the last three, four years, 70-80 per cent of ginning mills still being run are old and locally furbished versions of international brands of ginning plants. That greatly compromises the production efficiency. For example, at a time when the world is managing cotton bales pressing rate of 40-60 bales per hour, in case of old machinery in Pakistan this rate is estimated to be well below 10 bales.

— Mohiuddin Aazim