Cotton output jumps despite pest attack

Notwithstanding the ongoing heatwave, poor picking and bugs attack, at least 0.9 million bales of raw cotton reached ginning factories during the last two weeks in the country keeping the hopes alive for a much better crop this year as compared with the last season. The figures released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) for the first fortnight of September reveal that around 3.93m bales were produced till Sept 15 which is 1.74m bales or 80 per cent more than 2.18m bales by this time last year. As per cotton production breakup, Sindh produced over 2.389m bales against 1.11m bales last year which shows an increase of 115.26pc, while the output in Punjab was 1.545m bales against 1.076m bales last season, an increase of 43.47pc. The data shows that the exporters, including an international firm, have so far bought over 0.221m bales against just 3,080 bales last year; textile spinners more than 3.3m bales against 1.76m bales (an increase of 88pc) last season. Whereas, ginning factories are holding a stock of 0.40m bales, around 5.25pc less than last year’s figure of 0.422m bales.