Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) has expressed its concern on the prohibition of cotton export by the State Bank describing it a conspiracy of bureaucracy of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP). Chairman of PCGA Amanullah Qureshi said that prices of cotton in local market went down due to stoppage of exports. He said that State Bank sources told him that it has not received any information from the TDAP to continue export of cotton from the country.
It is said the export permission for cotton expired on June 30, 2012, which was for three years. Sources said the decision to allow export of cotton would be decided on acceptance of new policy by the ministries of commerce and textile and approval by the concerned departments.
The lint exporters in this context expressed their concern saying why cotton yarn was being exported, which also falls under the same ambit. The country exported a record number of 1.5 million cotton bales in July to June fiscal year 2011-12, which was 50 percent more as compared with 1.0 million bales exported in July to June 2010-11, exporters said.
Due to stoppage, the export orders worth million of dollars would be stopped and country would lose precious foreign exchange in return, the PCGA Chairman added. He said the export orders already in the pipeline would lapse and dent the credibility of the Pakistani exporters in the eyes of foreign firms. In July-June 2011-12 more than 1.5 million cotton bales were exported with proceeds of more than $425 million, he said. Around 1.0 million bales were exported the previous fiscal year with proceeds of $18 million to $19 million.
Far East countries and China are the major importers of the produce while Indian traders also buy more than 200,000 bales of light grade. Other importing countries of Pakistani lint besides Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia were Bangladesh, Cambodia and Indonesia. Pakistan exports cotton in the range of 82 cents per pound to 90 cents per pound and due to the dollar-rupee parity Pakistan's lint foreign exchange earning remained better. Several orders were in the pipeline with importers from Thailand, Bangladesh, China and Far East countries, now exporters fear huge losses in case they failed to fulfil commitments.
China's cotton imports grew 18.6 percent in 2011 to 3.36 million tonnes, largely from India and the United States. China, the world's top consumer and importer of the fibre is expected to exceed the government's 2012 target of 6.99 million tonnes, the China Cotton Association said, which is already up nearly 6.0 percent from a year ago.