ISLAMABAD, April 18: The government and the private sector on Thursday agreed on increasing contamination-free cotton producing districts to nine from last year’s three districts. They also agreed on introducing Cotton Standardization Ordinance very shortly to improve cotton price in the international market.
This was stated by Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood at a news briefing after presiding over a meeting of ginners, farmers, textile industries, Small and Medium Enterprises Authority (SMEDA), Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute (PCSI) and provincial government representatives.
It was decided that Bahawalpur in Punjab, Sanghar in Sindh and Kachi, Khuzdar, Lasbela and Sibbi in Balochistan should be declared as contamination-free cotton producing districts in addition to Rahimyar Khan in Punjab, Ghotki in Sindh and Nasirabad in Balochistan.
The meeting also reviewed the results of last year campaign for contamination-free cotton, and it was found very successful particularly in Punjab, followed by Balochistan, but in Sindh it was a failure.
The minister said that Pakistani cotton used to be containing 26 to 27 grams contamination per bale which was targeted to be brought down to 2.5 gram per bale. According to Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) figures, based on 4000 bales it procured, contamination was 1.83 grams per bale.
The textile mills, however, reported 4 grams contamination per bale particularly in Rahimyar Khan. “All the participants were of the view that campaign was successful in bringing down the contamination to 4 grams per bale but the target of zero per cent contamination-free cotton could not be achieved,” said the minister.
Mr Razak said that the government had set a target of 100,000 grade-II cotton bales in Balochistan while total production stood at 93,000 bales. Target for cotton production in Balochistan has now been set at 150,000 bales for the next year with the addition of four more districts.
He said that cotton control act has been introduced by all the three cotton producing provinces but cotton standardization law could not be implemented because it required consent from all the provincial governments.
The law would now be introduced through an ordinance that would ensure cotton grading according to specific standards, and standardization certificate would be issued by the Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute (PSCI). This will ensure proper pricing to the farmers and ginners and enhance competitiveness of the textile mills in the international market.
He said that premium price of Rs200 per bale for grade-I quality cotton could not be secured by any district due to quality while ginners complained they could not get the full premium of Rs75 per bale from the industries even though the produce was of grade-II. “They did not get fully paid and complained that they were paid Rs50 and 60 per bale instead of Rs75 per bale,” he said.
He said that it would be ensured through administrative means besides the education and training process that use of jute bags for cotton picking and transportation is totally eradicated because this was one of the main reasons of contamination.
The minister said that the government was also persuading the fertilizer industry to use colourful bags instead of white bags because it was also resulting in cotton contamination, and Pakistan was losing around five cents per pound cotton in the Liverpool Cotton Market.