Chairman of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), Masood A Majeed and vice chairman Shehzad Ali Khan have said that out of total 1200 ginning factories in Sindh and Punjab, 943 are operational. Of these, 728 are in Punjab and 215 in Sindh, and total 83,57,225 bales of cotton were received during last fortnight ending on December Ist, 2010.
Recent floods have badly hit the cotton crop in Muzaffargarh, Layyah, Rajanpur Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan. They said that 54.63 percent cotton was destroyed in Muzaffargarh, 59.25 percent in Rajanpur, and 19.60 percent in Dera Ghazi Khan, 26.21 percent in Jhang, 22.07 percent in Hyderabad and 33.19 percent in Ghotki.
Cotton production in the country has declined by 19.86 percent as the arrivals recorded at the ginneries as on December Ist stood at 83,57,225 bales, showing a decrease of 19.86 percent from 1,04,27,737 bales received in the corresponding period of last year. However, the report shows an increase of 14.91 percent in cotton production in Lodhran district, 39.87 percent in Mianwali district, and 13.86 percent in Balochistan. The unsold stock is 10,80,638 bales less than last year.
The Chairman and vice-chairman of PCGA briefed reporters about the fortnightly report. Punjab contributed 52,62,066 bales, Sindh 30,95,159 bales and Balochistan 17,364 bales to take the total to 83,57,225 bales. District-wise production data in Punjab showed that Multan contributed 2,66,975 bales, Lodhran 1,47,137 bales, Khanewal 5,45,853 bales, Muzaffargarh 1,63,589 bales, Dera Ghazi Khan 2,15,147 bales, Rajanpur 1,52,982 bales, Layyah 1,18,586 bales, Vehari 5,64,915 bales, Sahiwal 3,64,195 bales, Pakpattan 1,80,500 bales, Okara 32,700 bales, Kasur 4750 bales, Toba Tek Singh 1,89,664 bales, Faisalabad 82,130 bales, Jhang 99,690 bales, Mianwali 64,900 bales, Bhakkar 62,650 bales, Rahim Yar Khan 5,80,806 bales, Bahawalpur 6,06,376 bales, and Bahawalnagar 6,50,000 bales.
Sindh's district-wise production figures were: Hyderabad 2,86,886 bales, Mirpurkhas 3,17,607 bales, Sanghar 12,99,991 bales, Nawabshah 2,64,773 bales, Naushero Feroze 1,55,431 bales, Khairpur 1,63,025 bales, Ghotki 94,874 bales, Sukkur 1,78,324 bales, and Dadu 87,273 bales. Balochistan added 17,364 bales to the total.
The arrivals figures recorded so far are the lowest Pakistan ever had. PCGA claimed that 2 million bales were destroyed in recent floods in Punjab and Sindh. Policy-makers may hope that bumper cotton crop will help the government make deficiency in other areas, taking the annual growth rates to over 7 percent.
PCGA chairman Masood reiterated demand to the government to announce relief and bailout package for cotton ginning factories of flood-hit areas and survey of such areas should be completed very soon. The report said that the ginners pressed 68,99,381 bales. Only 3,54,500 bales were exported by commercial exporters (which were purchased from Sindh), and merely 31,800 bales were purchased from Punjab. The textile industry purchased 60,95,976 bales and 10,02,674 bales were available with ginners as unsold stock.
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