The textile sector has booked export orders of 0.1 million-cotton bales from August 2007 to July 2008. Initially, the production target of cotton for 2007-08 was set at 14.11 million bales. The mealy bug and the cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) attacks as well as lower areas under cotton cultivation compared to last year, forced the government to revise its target downward to 12.8 million bales.
Total production for the year was just 11.6 million bales, that was 3.9 million bales less than total domestic consumption. From August 2007-July 2008 Pakistan imported 4.6 million bales of cotton amounting to Rs 100 billion. Sources said that out of these 4.6 million bales, 2.5 million bales were imported from India that added Rs 45 billion to the national exchequer while the rest were imported from Bangladesh and Indonesia.
Sources said that out of these 0.1 million bales nearly 50-55 thousand bales of short staple cotton would be exported to Bangladesh and Indonesia during the current fiscal 2008-09. "Short staple cotton is produced in Pakistan whereas we have to import long-staple and medium-long staple from India and USA", sources said.
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