The country's cotton import rose by 135 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year due to shortfall in the crop and contamination issue, importers told Business Recorder.
They said Pakistan is a leading producer of cotton, however this year the country had almost missed its cotton production target due to attack of different pests especially mealy bug, while contamination issue and low-grade cotton are the other major factors behind the increasing import of raw cotton.
"We are the largest producer of cotton, but have failed to produce quality cotton, therefore, our export-oriented textile units are relying on imported cotton," they added. They said that industrialists are demanding long staple cotton, as its production is short in the country. To meet the local industry demand raw cotton is being imported from India, USA and Brazil.
During current year, the country is facing a shortfall of 3.5-4 million bales raw cotton, which is also a big reason for rising import, a leading importer said, adding that current year's local production would be around 11.5 million bales against the demand of 15.5-16 million bales.
Statistics show that during July-February raw cotton import rose by 135 percent to 912.032 million dollars against some 387.752 million dollars during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.
Cotton import during February 2008 stood at 185 million dollars as compared to imports worth 89 million dollars during February 2007, depicting a surge of 107 percent. Importers said that raw cotton import is increasing gradually, despite high rate in the international market due to contamination issue. It is expected that by the end of the current fiscal year raw cotton import will surpass 3.5 million bales.
Comments
Comments are closed.