MULTAN: Seed cotton (Phutti) equivalent to over 5.643 million or exactly 5,643,525 bales have reached ginning factories across the country till Mar 15, 2021, registering a 34.16 per cent shortfall compared to corresponding period of last year when arrivals were recorded 8.57 million bales, well above the existing figures.

According to a fortnightly report of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) released to media on Thursday, exactly 5,639,035 bales have undergone the ginning process i.e converted into bales.

Cotton arrivals in Punjab were recorded at over 3.5 million or 3,507,356 bales while Sindh generated just over 2.1 million or 2,136,169 bales.

Just over 5.5 million or 5,517,611 bales have been sold out with major chunk of it, 5.44 million (5,447,411) bales, bought by textile mills and 70,200 by exporters. Exactly 125.914 bales were lying unsold at the ginneries.

Bahawalnagar district of Punjab remained on top with cotton arrival figure of over a million or 1,000,381 bales followed by Sanghar district in Sindh (791,278) and Rahim Yar Khan (656,941 bales).

Total 14 ginning factories were operational in the country, all of them in Punjab, and none in Sindh.