Pakistan’s cotton production decreased by 2.8 million bales until 15th December, according to a survey by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association. In the first 15 days of this month, the country has produced five million bales, which is 35.67% lower than the more than seven million bales produced before 15 December of last year. During that time, the acquisition of local textile mills for cotton bales has dropped by 35.06% to four million bales. The winning firms had a total of over 800,000 bales, 35.06% smaller than the stock of over 1,2 million bales last year. In this time, Punjab produced 2,9 million cotton bales, 1.4 million less than last year’s 4,4 million bales production. Sindh produced 2.8 million bales, 1.3 million less than the output in the last years.
As Pakistan’s textile sector is working completely this year, cotton demand is projected to cross over 10 million bales, said Naseem Usman, chairman of the Karachi Cotton Brokers Forum. In Pakistan, he predicted that 6 million bales would be produced and $6 billion worth of bales imported to meet the demands of local factories.
