KARACHI, Nov 5: Phutti (seed cotton) arrival into ginneries up to Nov 1, 2001, remained short by 15.63 per cent over the corresponding period of last year. This gave impetus to lint cotton prices which were being lately quoted below Rs1,700 per maund in the domestic market.
With hardly any improvement in phutti arrival from fields into ginneries ever since the start of new cotton season from Sept 1, 2001, the textile spinning industry seems to have now readjusted its strategy and moved in to cover up their position which pushed lint cotton price up to Rs1,900 from Rs1,700 of the recent past.
According to figures released by Pakistan Cotton Ginners’ Association (PCGA) here on Monday, phutti arrival up to Nov 1, 2001 stood lower at 3.276 million compared to 3.883 million recorded in the corresponding period last year.
The initial production estimates fixed by the government at 10.7 million bales now seems to be difficult to achieve particularly when reports coming from cotton fields of late pest attack in Punjab.
A grower talking to Dawn from southern Punjab said that there is extensive pest attack on standing cotton crop, which has almost eliminated 50 to 70 per cent of the expected yield of the produce.
However, other major cotton growing districts of Punjab are still having healthy cotton crop, particularly Bahawalpur, Vehari, Khanewal, Muzaffargarh and Rajanpur.
Consequently, arrival of phutti in Punjab is lower by 23.02 per cent over the same period last year, whereas in Sindh it is only 5.41 per cent lesser over the previous year.
The PCGA figures show that up to November 1, a total of 2.212 million bales reached ginneries in Punjab where 757 ginning units are presently operational. Last year the arrival was higher at 2.873 million bales.
Similarly, in Sindh total phutti arrival during the period under review stood at 1.063 million bales as against 1.009 million bales of the same period last year.
The fortnightly (Oct 15 to Nov 1) figures of phutti arrival continues to be lesser than those of last year at 1.564 million bales compared to 1.623 million bales of the corresponding period last year.
The general slackness in demand of textiles from the western countries after the Sept 11, and poor off-take of yarn by Far Eastern countries are having direct impact on the country’s economy because textile industry, besides being the largest employer is also major foreign exchange earner.
There is much lesser off-take of cotton from spinning industry since the start of new cotton season and up to Nov 1, 2001, 2.028 million bales were purchased as against 2.429 million bales of the corresponding period of last year.
The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has step up its procurement operations and so far lifted 83,451 bales from new crop. Last year the total purchase of lint cotton by the corporation stood at 10,800 bales.
However, exporters continue to stay on the side-line owing to depressed world cotton prices. Only 6,004 bales have been lifted by exporters compared to 191,561 bales lifted by them in the corresponding period of the last year.