Despite shortfall, Pakistan not to import duty-free cotton from India

Despite facing server shortfall, Pakistan is no mood to purchase cotton from neighboring rival India.

Talking to media, Advisor to PM on Trade and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood said Pakistan had said it had no plan to allow duty-free import of cotton from India to bridge shortfall.

The country was currently facing one million bales shortfall due to low production that year, he said.

He said people from the industry had been demanding to make changes in duties and taxes in textile sector. However, he ruled out any changes in duties and import of cotton from India to bridge shortfall. He hoped that the country would have better cotton crop next year.

The cotton production in the country had witnessed a consistent decline since 2017-18 when it reached 11.9 million bales. Following on from 2017-18, the cotton production in 2018-19 declined by 17.5 per cent to 9.8 million bales, revealed the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI). They said that in 2019-20, the cotton production further declined by 6.9 per cent to 9.18 million bales. It is worth mentioning that in recent times, the cotton production touched a peak of 13.96 million bales in 2014-15.

Meanwhile, the yield of cotton has also declined consistently since 2017-18 when it reached 753 (kg/hectare). After that, the yield declined by 6.1 per cent to 707 (kg/hectare) in 2018-19 and further declined by 12.6 per cent to 618 (kg/hectare). It is pertinent to mention that the yield reached 802 (kg/hectare) in 2014-15.