Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) Chairman Shehzad Ali Khan has advised the ginners not to join hedge trading, saying that the current cotton season is very critical and fluctuating. Speaking at a press conference along with PCGA Vice-Chairman Malik M Sarfraz, Haji Muhammad Akram, Rao Sadaruddin, Aasim Saeed Sheikh and Ch Khalid Bashir, he said that PCGA was expecting 12 to 12.5 million bales of cotton.
He said that substandard, spurious, and less germinated Bt cotton seed was supplied to the farmers, which caused less per-acre yield and farmers had incurred huge losses. He hailed the government decision to impose 15 percent anti-dumping duty on the Indian cotton yarn and fabrics, describing it a good step towards the survival of local industry. He suggested incentives for the textile and value-added industry equivalent to Bangladesh, India and other neighbouring countries.