Fearing price crisis in the country, the Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) may not further revise cotton production estimates downward and would maintain it at 11.039 million bales for the current season (2016-17), it is learnt.
The body has already revised the cotton production estimates downward twice in the current season to 11.039 million bales against the initial estimates of 14.1 million bales for the current season (2016-17).
The third meeting of the CCAC for the season 2016-17 is scheduled to be held on Monday (today) to assess the volume of current cotton crop in the country, under the chairmanship of Hassan Iqbal, Federal Secretary Ministry of Textile Industry.
The country had missed the crop production target by around 30 per cent in 2015-16 and it remained around 10 million bales, which according to the finance minister dipped the GDP growth rate to 0.5 per cent. However, according to sources, the prospects for the current season are not very bright and the country may face significant shortfall in the crop production.
Official sources revealed to Business Recorder that though Federal Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan claimed that the government has not banned the cotton import from India, but cotton import has been remained suspended for last few days, which resulted in increasing price by up to Rs250 per maund.
According to officials, currently cotton price in different markets of the country is ranging between Rs3,075-3,450 per 40 kilograms; however, if the CCAC further revises the cotton production estimates downward, a further jump in prices by up to Rs150 per maund is expected, which would negatively hit the local industry.
To avoid further increase in the cotton prices, the CCAC is unlikely to change cotton production estimates despite the fact that there is still some space for further reduction in the estimated production, the officials claimed.
It is pertinent to mention here that officials of Plant Protection Department, Trading Co-operation of Pakistan (TCP), cotton growers from Punjab, representatives of Pest Warning Department, Punjab, Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) and Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) would attend the third meeting of the CCAC.
Cotton cultivation decrease by 21 per cent in Punjab; however, it increased by 2 percent in Sindh, with overall decrease by 15 percent as compared to the last year. This decrease in area has proportionately depicted in the production as well.
The government has downward revised cotton production target as well as area and fixed 14.1 million bales from 7.4 million acres of land for the season 2016-17 against 15.49 million bales from 7.7 million acres of land estimated for 2015-16.
Punjab was expected to produce 9.5 million cotton bales from 5.9 million acres, Sindh had to cover 1.6 million acres and was estimated to produce 4.5 million cotton bales, Balochistan had to grow cotton on 0.12 million acres and was targeted to produce 0.04 million cotton bales, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was targeted to cover about 74,000 acres and produce 0.0015 million cotton bales.
The CCAC in the last meeting revised downward cotton production estimates for the second time and Punjab is estimated to produce 7.3 million against the initial estimates of 9.5 million bales, Sindh 3.7 million against 4.5 million bales, Balochistan 0.038 million against initial estimates of 0.098 million bales and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 0.001 million against 0.0015 million bales.