KARACHI: The country’s cotton production plunged 34.07 per cent to 9.748 million bales till March 15 during the current season from the last year’s 14.785 million bales.
According to the Pakistan Cotton Ginners’ Association (PCGA) data, cotton production declined by 44.68 percent to 5.982 million bales in Punjab as compared to 10.814 million bales a year earlier.
Sindh’s output remained 3.766 million bales this season, with a fall of 5.16 percent as compared to 3.971 million bales in the corresponding period last year.
The textile industry purchased 8.745 million bales as against 12.938 million bales last season. Similarly, exporters also booked only 361,241 bales this season compared to 473,337 bales. Ginners are holding around 641,763 bales of unsold cotton as against 644,986 bales in the corresponding period of last season.
The government has fixed cotton production target for 2016/17 at 14.101 million bales, which is lower from 15 million bales set for the current season.
