Cotton arrival in Pakistan increased 32.4% year-on-year, showed the latest fortnightly data released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginner's Association (PCGA) on Friday.

As per the report, total cotton arrivals surged to 7.434 million bales as of February 15, 2021, compared to 5.616 million bales in the same period last year, a difference of 1.82 million bales.

Cotton arrival in Punjab was 3.922 million bales compared to 3.480 million bales in the same period last year, an increase of 0.442 million bales or 13%. On a fortnightly basis, cotton arrival recorded a marginal increase of 0.3% as compared to 3.908 million bales on February 1.

7.2mn bales of cotton reach ginneries, up 54% YoY: PCGA

Similarly, cotton arrival in Sindh reached 3.512 million bales on February 15, as compared to 2.135 million bales reported in the same period last year, an increase of 1.377 million bales or 64%. On a fortnightly basis, cotton arrival from Sindh remained almost unchanged.

Cotton is crucial for Pakistan's textile sector, which accounts for a lion's share of the country’s exports. The textile sector alone accounts for 3.4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the South Asian country, as per the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Pakistan’s textile group exports witnessed 24.73% growth during the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year and remained $10.933 billion compared to $8.765 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year, shared data published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Thursday.

On a year-on-year basis, textile group exports witnessed 17.29% growth in January 2022, when compared to $1.323 billion in January 2021.