Around 40-42 new ginning factories have been set up in Pakistan at an investment of about Rs three billion. Out of the 40 new ginning factories, some 30 have been set up in the Sindh province while rest in the Punjab province.
The last two years have been extremely good for cotton throughout the world especially India, Pakistan and China. The cotton ginning sector too witnessed good times. This, in turn, has encouraged the investors to set up new ginning factories.
This was revealed by Mr Naseem Usman, cotton consultant and Chairman - Cotton Brokers' Forum. Currently there are around 960 ginning factories operational in the country. Of which, around 720 in Punjab, 250 in Sindh and the rest in Baluchistan.
He continued, “One more reason for this is that, like in India, cotton yields from Bt cotton seeds are very high, as it gives more productivity and its entire yield is obtained in about five months.
“So, since the output of cotton has hiked, ginners feel that it is a good idea to invest in this industry. Last year, in Pakistan, people have earned around Rs 50-60 million from ginning factories.
“Hence, investors are keen to set up more ginning factories and in turn our ginning capacities will also be enhanced. People have bought more and more land in order to set up ginning factories.
“The government has set a target of producing 150 million bales of cotton this year. Last year we had a production of 117 million bales though our target was 140 million bales. About 2.3 million bales of cotton were destroyed.
“Seeing the current weather conditions and having personally visited various regions of Sindh province and other areas, I feel that the crop is going to be good this year. At many places people have grown cotton in place of rice and sugarcane.
“Due to this, we have a feeling that this time we will be able to achieve the Government's target of producing 150 million bales of cotton. We hope that the weather conditions remain favorable to us. People are optimistic and say that they might over achieve the government's targets. In 2003-04 we had a record production of 144 million bales of cotton”, he winded up by saying.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India