Pakistan’s cotton arrivals reached 5.19 million bales by December 1, down 33% from the same period last year.

This hints that to meet the domestic shortfall, the textile sector would need to import up to 3.5 million bales this season.

Data released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association showed that during the same period last year, cotton arrivals had amounted to 7.75 million bales.

The cotton arrivals from Punjab amounted to 2.46 million bales by Dec 1, compared to 3.74 million of the same period last year, showing a drop of 34%. Meanwhile, from Sindh, cotton output recorded a fall of 32% to 2.73 million bales.

From Sindh, Sanghar was the top-producing district with around 1.24 million bales, while in Punjab, Bahawalnagar district saw the highest number of arrivals amounting to 620,860 bales.

Chairman Cotton Ginners Forum Ihsanul Haq told Nukta that if the trend prevails, by the end of this cotton year, the country’s total harvest will reach nearly 5.6 million bales.

He said textile mills have so far booked around 3.5 million bales while nearly 1.3 million imported bales have arrived. Moreover, nearly 400,000 bales equivalent to cotton yarn have arrived.

The country bought most of the cotton from the US, Brazil, Tanzania, and Afghanistan, he said.