Cotton crop has been cultivated in over 2.69 mn hectares of land across Pakistan during the current sowing season — a growth of 1 per cent from last season—producing 14 mn bales, which according to Khalid Abdullah, the Cotton Commissioner in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, is enough to meet the domestic demands and the requirements for exports and over 91 per cent of crop cultivation targets were attained this season.
He also added that cotton prices in the local markets are stable, which is an encouraging sign for farmers to increase their production and maximize any potential profits. Meanwhile, exports of raw cotton from the country during the last fiscal ending of June 30 registered over 33.65 per cent of growth compared to the previous fiscal’s figures.
According to Pakistani media reports, in the province of Punjab, cotton sowing registered a growth of about 11 per cent, while it declined by 40 per cent in the Sindh province due to low sowing trends caused by dry weather and shortage of water for irrigation.
As claimed by the data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, during the period under review, about 521,959 metric tonne of cotton yarn worth $1.371 bn was exported as compared to the 458,074 metric tonne worth $1.243 bn from the same period of last year. During the fiscal year of 2017-18, export of cotton yarn grew by 10.30 per cent compared to the corresponding period in the previous fiscal, whereas the exports of yarn apart from cotton grew by 38.85 per cent.
