MULTAN: Seed cotton (Phutti) equivalent to over 3.45 million or exactly 3,452,382 bales have reached ginning factories across the country till Nov 1, 2020, registering a 43.38 percent shortfall compared to corresponding period of last year when arrivals were recorded at over six million bales.

According to a fortnightly report of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) released to media on Tuesday, over 2.97 million or 2,978,934 bales have undergone the ginning process i.e converted into bales.

Cotton arrivals in Punjab were recorded at 1.72 million or 1,728,285 bales while Sindh generated almost the similar figure of 1.72 million or 1,724,097 bales but remained slightly below Punjab.

Total 2.58 million or 2,588,137 bales have been sold out with major chunk of it, 2.57 million, bought by textile mills and remaining 17600 by exporters. Sanghar district of Sindh continued to remain on top with cotton arrival figure of 456,590 bales followed by Bahawalnagar in Punjab with arrival figure of 414,654 bales. Total 528 ginning factories were operational in the country including 193 in Sindh and 335 in Punjab.