Sindh outshines Punjab in cotton race, records 121pc increase in output

LAHORE: Sindh province has become the cotton king of Pakistan, beating Punjab province for the first time in production of the silver fiber, according to figures released by the ginners on Wednesday.

The data showed that Sindh, which usually accounts for about 30 percent of the country’s total cotton output, produced more than 50 percent of the 8.171 million bales that arrived in the ginning factories till Dec. 31, 2023.

The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) said that Sindh produced 4.092 million bales, up 121.16 percent from the same period last year, while Punjab produced 4.078 million bales, up 47.66 percent.

The data showed that 8.171 million bales of cotton arrived in the country's ginning factories till December 31, 2023 compared with 4.612 million bales in the same period last year. Compared to the same period of last year, as many as 3.558 million bales of additional cotton have arrived in the factories this year, showing an increase of 77.14 percent.

As per PCGA data, 4.092 million bales have arrived in the cotton factories of Sindh province, which is 2.241 million bales more than the crop of 1.850 million bales reaching to the factories in the province in the same period last year. The rate of increase in the province of Sindh has been phenomenally high---121.16 percent.

In comparison, as many as 4.078 million bales of cotton arrived in the factories of Punjab province, which is 1.316 million bales more than the crop of 2.762 million bales of cotton in the same period of last year, according to PCGA report, showing a jump of 47.66 percent in Punjab over previous crops size.

Traditionally, with production primarily in two main provinces, approximately 65 to 70 percent of Pakistan’s cotton is used to be grown in Punjab, which has relatively dry conditions in southern parts, and the rest is grown in Sindh, which has a hotter and more humid climate, and a negligible area is brought under cotton in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces too.

Considered as pioneer of domesticating crop in the world, cotton is grown for centuries in this part of the world. It is planted during the monsoon months of May to August, known as the kharif period. The share of cotton in some years have jumped to as high as 79 percent and the latter for 20 percent of the nation's cotton-growing land. However, as mentioned earlier, this trend is seemingly portrays contrasting performance by the Sindh province, as per PCGA data

Coming back to latest PCGA cotton arrival report, Sanghar in Sindh province topped in reported arrivals of silver fiber in the province and the country. As many as 1.68 million bales of cotton reported in Sanghar district till December 31, 2023, followed by Sukkur district with arrivals of 0.54 million bales of cotton.

In Punjab, Bahawalnagar district led in terms of arrivals in ginning factories in the province. As per district-wise breakup, as many as 1.06 million bales of cotton reported in Bahawalnagar district followed by Rahim Yar Khan, registering 0.59 million bales of cotton.

The textile sector has purchased 7.314 million bales of cotton so far while exporters/traders have purchased 0.292 million bales of cotton this season.

Despite successive announcement by the federal and provincial governments, Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has not purchased cotton from the farmers of ginners for the 2023-24 season.

As many as 241 ginning factories are operational in the country.

It may be noted that cotton is the most important cash crop in Pakistan and cotton products export account for 55 percent of all foreign exchange earnings of the country. About 25-30 percent of farmers grow cotton, and over 15 percent of total cultivated area is devoted to this crop. Cotton production ac-counts for 4.5 percent of the value added in Agriculture GDP and 0.8 per cent of GDP. It serves as the raw material for the textile industry, the country's largest agro-industrial sector, employs 17 percent, and contributes 8.5 percent to GDP.