LAHORE: The local cotton market on Tuesday remained steady and the trading volume improved a little bit.
Cotton Analyst Naseem Usman told Business Recorder that the rate of cotton in Sindh is in between Rs 17,000 to Rs 20,000 per maund. The rate of cotton in Punjab is in between Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000 per maund. The rate of Phutti in Sindh is between Rs 5,500 to Rs 8,300 per 40 kg. The rate of Phutti in Punjab is in between Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,500 per 40 kg.
Data gathered by Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) till March 31, 2023 shows that Pakistan produced 4,912,069 bales of cotton against 7,441,833 in the 2021-22 season, a year-on-year decline of 2,528,764 bales or 34pc loss.
The less output will eventually push the textile industry to import around 10 million bales. Mill consumption in the year 2022-23 has also been reported at 8.8m bales, the lowest in over 20 years, mainly because of severe import financing issues.
There are reports that the textile mills have so far inked import agreements for 5.5m bales, whereas they have purchased 4,605,449 bales from the local market. Last year, the mills had bought 7,332,000 bales from the domestic market.
According to ginners, they are still holding 301,720 bales in their stocks against last year’s inventory of 93,833 bales.
Interestingly, despite a strong demand in international markets, only 4,900 bales of white lint could be exported this year against the previous year’s figure of 11,000 bales, a fall of over 69pc.
Province-wise, Punjab registered over 32pc year-on-year decline in output as it produced 3,033,050 bales this season against 3,928,690 bales last season. Sindh reported over 46pc year-on-year loss in yield as the lint production in the province this year stood at 1,879,019 bales against 3,513,143 bales last year.
Pakistan’s cotton output reached a high of 14.1m bales in the year 2004-05. But it dropped to 7m bales in 2020-21 and about 9.45m bales in 2021-22 as the country’s per acre yield contracted to half of the crop productivity in other countries of the region.
Naseem Usman, chairman of Karachi Cotton Brokers Forum, while commenting on the report, said that in some areas of Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab province, there was an extraordinary reduction in the crop due to the irreparable loss of the crop due to the devastating flood on the standing cotton crop. About 75 lac bales will have to be imported for the textile mills.
He also told that due to climate change, cotton farmers are struggling to sow the cotton crop in the next season, about 85 thousand acres in some areas of South Punjab. But the cotton crop that had been sown has been damaged due to untimely rains.
200 bales of Rahim Yar Khan were sold at Rs 19,000 per maund, 200 bales of Sadiqabad were sold at Rs 19,300 per maund, 1300 bales of Hasil Pur were sold at Rs 18,200 to Rs 18,920 per maund and 16,00 bales of Ahmed Pur East were sold at Rs 18,000 per maund.
The Spot Rate remained unchanged at Rs 19,000 per maund. The rate of Polyester Fiber was increased by Rs 10 and was available at Rs 373 per kg.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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