MULTAN: Seed cotton (Phutti) equivalent to over 4.6 million or exactly 4,648,092 bales have reached ginning factories across the country till Dec 1, 2020, registering a 37.59 per cent shortfall compared to corresponding period of last year when arrivals were recorded well over seven million bales.

According to a fortnightly report of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) released to media on Thursday, over 4.2 million or 4,289,988 bales have undergone the ginning process i.e converted into bales. Cotton arrivals in Punjab were recorded at 2.6 million or 2,634,487 bales while Sindh generated just over 2 million or 2,013,605 bales.

Just over 3.75 million or 3,754,750 bales have been sold out with major chunk of it, 3.7 million (3,709,450) bales, bought by textile mills and remaining 45,300 by exporters.

Sanghar district of Sindh continued to remain on top with cotton arrival figure of 776,302 bales followed by two Punjab districts including Bahawalnagar (670,938 bales) and Rahimyar Khan (504,480 bales). Total 449 ginning factories were operational in the country including 147 in Sindh and 302 in Punjab.