Cotton arrival edges up 0.2pc in fortnight

KARACHI: The cotton arrival rose slightly by 0.2 percent in the fortnight ended Feb. 29, compared to the previous fortnight, as the country's textile sector benefited from a recovery in crop production after last year's floods, data from an industry body showed on Monday.

The Pakistan Cotton Ginner’s Association (PCGA) said in its latest report that 8.393 million bales of cotton had arrived in the country as of Feb. 29, up from 8.378 million bales on Feb. 15.

On a year-on-year basis, however, cotton arrival surged by over 72 percent, when compared to 4.875 million bales registered on Feb. 29, 2023.

Last year, flash floods in Pakistan devastated large swathes of agricultural land in the country, especially in Sindh and Balochistan, impacting cotton crop production, which witnessed a 34 percent year-on-yeardecline.

The improvement in cotton arrival, an essential raw material for the textile sector, is a welcome development for the country’s crucial textile sector, which is responsible for a majority of the exports.

As per PCGA data, cotton arrival remained largely unchanged from both Punjab and Sindh. As of Feb. 29, cotton arrival in Punjab clocked in at 4.278 million bales as compared to 4.265 million bales reported on Feb. 15, an increase of only 0.3 percent. On a yearly basis, cotton arrivals from Punjab jumped by 42.8 percent, as compared to 2.996 million bales clocked in during the same period last year.

Similarly, cotton arrival in Sindh remained largely unchanged at 4.115 million bales compared to 4.114 million bales recorded on Feb. 15, an increase of 0.001 million bales. However, the year-on-year increase was more pronounced in Sindh, as cotton arrivals jumped by 119 percent as compared to 1.879 million bales registered in the same period of last year.