Cotton arrival inches up in last two weeks of February

Cotton arrival in Pakistan witnessed a marginal increase of 0.2% as of February 29, 2024, compared to February 15, 2023, showed the latest fortnightly data released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginner’s Association (PCGA) on Monday.

As per the report, total cotton arrival in Pakistan rose to 8.393 million bales compared to 8.378 million bales recorded on February 15, 2023, an increase of 0.015 million bales.

On a year-on-year basis, however, cotton arrival surged by over 72%, when compared to 4.875 million bales registered on February 29, 2023.

Last year, flash floods in Pakistan devastated large swathes of agricultural land in the country, especially in Sindh and Balochistan, impacting cotton crop production, which witnessed a 34% YoY decline.

The improvement in cotton arrival, an essential raw material for the textile sector, is a welcome development for cash-strapped Pakistan.

Cotton arrival inches 1.8% higher in last two weeks of December

The country’s crucial textile sector, responsible for a majority of Pakistan’s exports, has been at the receiving end of a plunge in demand and escalating economic woes.

Last month, textile exporters slammed the interim government, saying that the repeated increase in gas and electricity prices to an unbearable level has left the value-added textile export uncompetitive on the world markets.

They added that the transitional setup had also poor economic policies that unleashed the free fall of rupee against the dollar, ensuing in input cost escalation to pull down the manufacturing growth and brought the industry near to a close.

Province-wise breakup

As per PCGA data, cotton arrival remained largely unchanged from both Punjab and Sindh.

As of February 29, cotton arrival in Punjab clocked in at 4.278 million bales as compared to 4.265 million bales reported on February 15, 2024, an increase of only 0.3%. On a yearly basis, cotton arrivals from Punjab jumped by 42.8%, as compared to 2.996 million bales clocked in during the same period last year.

Similarly, cotton arrival in Sindh remained largely unchanged at 4.115 million bales compared to 4.114 million bales recorded on February 15, an increase of 0.001 million bales. However, the YoY increase was more pronounced in Sindh, as cotton arrivals jumped by 119% as compared to 1.879 million bales registered in SPLY.