Cotton supply to ginneries drops 44 percent

KARACHI: The arrivals of cotton in the ginning factories of the country have dropped 44 percent by September 15, mostly because of the rain-led crop losses, unavailability of farmhands, and a supply disruption following coronavirus lockdown, said a report on Friday.

According to the first seaosanal report released by Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), the supply of the silver fibre to factories so far was recorded at 1.035 million bales, down 44.12 percent from 1.852 million bales last year.

Of these arrivals, this year 10,800 bales have been exported, which are 64.85 percent lower than 30,725 bales exported last year.

By this time, purchasing of bales by mills has dropped 47.11 percent to 0.82164 million bales, compared to 1.553 million bales a year ago.

Currently, 202,754 bales are in stocks with the ginners, which are 24.37 percent lower than 268,072 bales in stock last year.

Fortnightly flows (Sept 1-15) were recorded at 268,072 bales, down 46 percent, against 496,699 bales in the same period last year.

Cotton arrivals in Punjab fell 44 percent to 334,863 bales, against 598,314 bales in the same period a year earlier.

Arrivals in Sindh also went down 44 percent to 700,331 bales compared to 1.254 million bales in the same period a year ago.

Sanghar, Sindh, despite suffering huge crop losses owing to devastating rains and floods, recorded the highest arrivals of 504,555 bales in the period under review.

Naseem Usman, chairman Karachi Cotton Brokers Association (KCBA), said heavy rains, unfavourable weather, coronavirus lockdown, and especially substandard seeds affected the cotton crop heavily. “Besides unavailability of cotton pickers at farms, a lack of workers at factories have also added to the losses of the ginning factories,” Usman said.

Market sources said a decline in production compared to last year, the country would be forced to import more cotton this year to fulfill the demand of the mills. “However, some big mills are already importing cotton to complete their demand, especially those that are exempted from import duty,” he added.

Stakeholders said this decline in cotton production would certainly weigh on the economy of the countrys.

On the other hand, Sindh Minister for Agriculture Muhammad Ismail Rahu in a press conference earlier this week said the punishing rains almost wiped out cotton crop in the province.

Rahoo said 70 to 90 percent of crops in 15 districts of Sindh had been destroyed. The cotton was sown over 1.562 million acres in the province, whereas 70 percent of the crop was damaged in Tharparkar, 35 percent in Sukkur, 21 percent in Sanghar, 20 percent in Naushero Feroz, while 50 percent cotton was destroyed in Thatta and Sujawal districts.