Cotton arrival in Pakistan improves 48%: PCGA

Cotton arrival in Pakistan witnessed a significant increase of 48% on August 15 compared to August 1, as per the latest fortnightly data released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginner’s Association (PCGA) on Friday.

Total cotton arrival in Pakistan rose to 2.12 million bales as of August 15 compared to 1.43 million bales recorded on August 1, 2023, an increase of 0.69million bales.

A year-on-year comparison was not available, as data was not collected on August 1, 2022, said PCGA.

Last year, flash floods in Pakistan devastated large swathes of agricultural land in the country, especially in Sindh and Balochistan.

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

As per the PCGA data, cotton arrival reported a substantial increase from Punjab.

As of August 15, cotton arrival in Punjab clocked in at 0.64 million bales as compared to 0.39 million bales reported on August 01, 2023, an increase of 64%.

Similarly, cotton arrival in Sindh was 1.48 million bales compared to 1.04 million bales recorded in August 1, an increase of 0.44 million bales or 42%.

Pakistan’s textile sector exports registered a decline of 15% and remained $1.31 billion during July 2023 compared to $1.54 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Earlier this week, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) warned that the textile sector will continue to experience economic headwinds related to high interest rates, exchange rate depreciation, high power tariffs, an increase in the cost of raw materials and suspension of the zero-rating status in the fiscal year 2024.

APTMA stated that another episode of exchange rate depreciation can be expected during the gradual return to a market-based exchange rate.

While the rupee experienced an appreciation following the IMF SBA, this effect was a combination of an increase in market confidence and depreciation of the US dollar. However, recently, the rupee has started to fall again, and closed at 295.78 in the inter-bank market on Friday,