KARACHI: The country is set to reap a bumper crop this season as phutti arrivals into ginneries reached 14.7 million bales till March 1, an increase of 10.33 per cent over a year earlier.

According to Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association’s (PCGA) fortnightly data released on Tuesday, the country harvested 1.377m more bales over the last season (2013-14) when total production stood at 13.328m bales.

The higher production could well be judged from the fact that 111,957 bales reached ginneries during the Feb 15-Mar 1 fortnight compared to 86,510 bales in the same fortnight last year.

Punjab has so far produced 10.741m bales this season, showing a growth of 12.18pc (1.166m bales) compared to 9.575m bales a year earlier.

Sindh harvested 3.964m bales as against 3.753m bales last season, a growth of 5.61pc (210,655 bales).

Similarly, cotton consumption was also higher as the textile spinning industry purchased 13.294m bales as against 11.966m bales last season. Exporters also lifted higher quantity of 470,837 bales compared to 363,394 bales last year.

The unsold stocks held by ginners were lesser this season at 845,530 bales as against 998,974 in the same period last year.

A large quantity of phutti still needs to be processed and around 135 and 21 ginning units are still operating in Punjab and Sindh compared to 95 and 3, respectively, in the last season.

Published in Dawn March 4th , 2015

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