The cotton crop arrivals at the ginneries across the country up to October 1, 2010 have been recorded at 2.617 million bales, showing a shortfall of 15 percent as compared to last year's 3.079 million bales. Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) Chairman Masud A Majeed, vice-chairman Shehzad Ali and chairman of ginners group Muhammad Akram said that the floods had damaged more than 2 million bales in southern Punjab and Sindh causing huge loss of about Rs 27 billion.
Initially, the official production target for the current season was fixed at 14.10 million bales. Later, but it was revised to less than 12 million bales. At present, only less than 50 percent ginning factories are operating in Punjab and Sindh. About 1200 cotton ginning factories operate in the peak season both in Punjab and Sindh. According to them, arrivals of cotton at ginneries in Punjab were recorded at 1.171 million bales, against last year's 1.42 million bales. Thus, the shortage has been computed at 17.64 percent. In Sindh, the arrivals of cotton were recorded at 1.445 million bales, compared to 1.657 million bales of last year--a decrease of 12.740 percent.
Textile mill owners have so far procured 2.088 million bales, compared to last year's 2.222 million bales both in Punjab and Sindh. The exporters purchased 41,700 bales, as compared to 2,53,889 bales of last year. The unsold lint and phutti stocks have been computed at 4,87,550 bales, as compared to last year's 6,03,240 bales. The approximate existing rate of good quality lint is Rs 7200 per maund and or phutti is Rs 3750 per 40 kg.