Cotton production of the country exceeded the estimated target of 12.59 million bales set by the Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) by 0.4 million bales. CCAC had projected cotton production at 12.598 million bales for the current season 2011-12; however, 12.99 million bales of cotton arrived at ginning factories till March 15, 2012 showing an increase of 0.4 million bales.
Cotton production also exceeded the corresponding year's production target. According to the data released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) 14.5 million bales of cotton arrived in factories till March 15 as compared to 11.5 million bales during the corresponding period last year, showing an increase of 21 percent.
According to the PCGA, there was an increase of 36.3 percent in Punjab while Sindh recorded nearly 50 per cent decline. Punjab produced 11.87 million bales against 7.78 million bales during the same period last year. Sindh produced 2.66 million bales during the period under review as compared to 3.79 million bales last year. Of the total cotton production, textile mills purchased more than 12.77 million bales from ginners while private sector exporters bought 999,909 bales. The total unsold stocks at ginneries increased to 770,547 bales as compared to 297656 bales last year.
A senior official of the Ministry of Textile Industry confirmed that cotton production exceeded the estimated target set for the current season 2011-12. The local industry has the capacity to absorb 14 -15 million bales but due to energy crisis, the industry would be unable to utilise around two million bales of cotton that would be exported this year against 0.7 million bales last year. This will negatively affect the value added textile exports, he maintained.
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