LAHORE, Oct 25: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) will purchase a ‘modest quantity’ of clean cotton from Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur districts against premium if the mills failed to do so.
This was announced by Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood, Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool and Punjab Agriculture Minister Khurshid Zaman Qureshi at a news conference here at the Governor’s House on Friday.
The TCP involvement is due to last year’s experience when textile mills, despite Aptma assurances, did not offer any premium to ginners and growers in Rahim Yar Khan district who did make arrangements to keep cotton free from contamination during picking, transportation and ginning.
The project of producing clean cotton was launched last year from RYK. This year it has been extended to Bahawalpur and two Sindh districts of Ghotki and Sanghar and Nasirabad in Balochistan.
Mr Dawood hoped that by producing clean cotton Pakistan would get extra around $300 million which it lost because of exporting contaminated lint.
Unlike last season when a premium of Rs200 per maund was promised, this year the premium will be according to the level of contamination in each bale —- Rs 150, Rs 75 and Rs 50 per maund at the rate of 1.5, 2.5 and 3 grams of contamination.
Mr Dawood said the main buyer of clean cotton was the local textile industry. But the TCP would procure it if the mills failed to buy it.
He said the corporation would procure higher grade clean cotton as per policy of last season on the basis of KCA spot rate with premia-discounts for grade, staple length and level of contamination.
He said in order to qualify for premium, the ginners would have to maintain the moisture level at 8.5 per cent in accordance with the international standards.
The ginners were expected to pass on about one-third of premium to the growers. Those ginning factories would be selected for clean cotton which would have a valid licence from the agriculture department, sufficient number of required machinery and pre-cleaners, he said.
The minister said required improvement in the quality of cotton would be possible in next three years, giving the country foreign exchange which would ultimately trickle down to farmers. The entire stock of clean cotton produced last year had been exported.
He said cotton would be transported in open trolleys, disallowing their packing in jute or plastic bags. Sewing of bags with jute or plastic threads had also been disallowed to save cotton from contamination with their twine.
The minister said the government was also concentrating on upgrading the ginning factories. Last year it had upgraded three mills and the number later increased to 10. Next year the number would increase to 30 and ultimately to 100 in the next three years, he said.
He said the government would give new ginning standards in July 2004 and the mills not following them would not be issued licences. Pakistani cotton was being considered B grade in the world market but the standard would improve with the production of more clean cotton, he said.
The minister said rules under the newly promulgated Cotton Standardization Ordinance were being framed.
The governor said the government would use entire machinery to ensure production of clean cotton in the two districts. The existing cotton crop was good, having a great demand in the local industry, he said.
He said the government had given many incentives for the improving the yield and quality of crops in the Punjab. The province would have good rice and sugarcane crops this season.
The governor said he had asked an Aptma delegation to arrange for the education of farmers, telling them how to produce clean cotton.
The Punjab agriculture minister said the government had banned the transportation of cotton from other districts into Rahim Yar Khan. But in the case of Bahawalpur there was no such restriction.
He said cotton could be brought to Bahawalpur in open trolleys and it would be weighed at the specially arranged weighing machines. The government had also tried to educate growers and middlemen on how to keep their cotton free from contamination.
The minister said the government did not want to reduce the number of different varieties of cotton but intended to promote only those which were in demand. The Punjab expected seven million bales of cotton this year which was against the country’s total target of 10.5 million bales.