The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) has said the country’s cotton production has decreased by 34% this year compared to the previous season. The final figures for the crop year 2022-23 indicate that Pakistan produced 4,912,069 bales of cotton, the lowest in nearly 40 years. This is a year-on-year decline of 2,528,764 bales or a 34% loss. Due to this decrease in production, the textile industry will have to import around 10 million bales to meet its annual demand of 15 million bales. However, mill consumption has also been reported at 8.8 million bales, the lowest in over 20 years, mainly due to import financing issues.

Textile mills have signed import agreements for 5.5 million bales and have purchased 4,605,449 bales from the local market, while ginners still hold 301,720 bales in their stocks. The severe decline in cotton arrival is attributed to flash floods and heavy rains during last year’s monsoon that devastated large swathes of agricultural land in the country, particularly in Sindh and Balochistan provinces. Despite strong demand in international markets, only 4,900 bales of white lint could be exported this year, a fall of over 69% compared to the previous year’s figure of 11,000 bales. Pakistan’s main raw cotton export destinations are the Philippines, Italy, Bangladesh, Greece, and France.

In terms of provinces, Punjab registered a year-on-year decline of over 32% in output, while Sindh reported over 46% year-on-year loss in yield. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) recently approved Rs8,500 per 40kg as the intervention price to attract growers towards cotton crop. The ECC also constituted a cotton price review committee to review market prices and propose intervention on a fortnightly basis.