September 3, 2021 (MLN): Cotton arrivals at the ginneries as of September 1, 2021 posted a massive uptick of 73% as it has reached 1.8 million bales, compared to the arrival of 1.03mn bales- the data collected on September 15, 2020.
The notable increase in cotton output clearly reflects the government’s prudent policies and apt measures, which have been taken to accelerate the agriculture sector of the country.
As per data released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association, cotton arrivals 1.245mn bales have arrived at the ginneries of Sindh while, 0.545mn bales reached Punjab based ginneries.
Sanghar, being one of the largest cotton producing districts in the country recorded highest cotton arrivals as the ginneries located there received 0.853mn bales. Cotton output from Bhawalnagar stood at 0.112mln bales while, ginneries in Khanewal reported the arrival of 0.103mln cotton bales.
The number of bales sold to textile sector has increased to 1.5mn bales and exporters bought around 200 bales of cotton, while 38 thousand bales went unsold during the period.
Despite the significant increase in cotton arrivals, the segment is still enduring significant bottlenecks in a way to exploit its maximum potential.
It will be difficult for growers to meet the 10.5m-bale production target set for FY22 as the area under cultivation in Punjab dropped to 3.2m acres and to 1.2m acres in Sindh, a report by Fitch Solutions noted.
In addition, the cotton growing areas are also suffering from acute water shortage. A report by Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCC) indicated the shortage of water in growing areas of cotton badly affected the cotton crop. As to cultivate more cotton, the government had approved the intervention price of Rs.5000 per 40 kg to encourage farmers.
Adding that “Cotton Price Review Committee” is being constituted which will monitor cotton price in the country. Under the intervention system, the committee would direct the TCP to start procurement if price fell below Rs.5000 per 40 kg.
TCP in the first phase would initially procure 200,000 bales of cotton and ensure farmers to get benefit from procurement, a report cited.
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