Pakistan lags behind its cotton sowing target

21 Aug '12

2 min read

While cotton sowing has almost completed in Punjab and Sindh provinces of the country, Pakistan still lags behind its target for the current cotton sowing season.

According to a review report released by the Directorate of Marketing & Economic Research of Pakistan Central Cotton Committee under the aegis of Minister of Textile Industry, the country still lags behind the target by eight percent.

The report said, owing to an exceptional delay in rains, cotton crop in Punjab has fallen prey to cotton leaf curl virus (CLCV), which has increased almost seven percent since last week of July.

By July-end, about 11.3 percent crop was under CLCV, which has now increased to 18.1 percent. Farming areas in districts of Pak Pattan, Rahim Yar Khan, Muzaffargarh, Khanewal, Layyah and Bahawalpur are the ones most badly hit by the virus, the report said.

It also stated that severe scarcity of irrigation water has increased the spread of pests like thirps and jassid in the southern regions of Sindh.

Raw cotton prices have plunged during the past month mainly on account of a rise in phutti arrivals and ginners selling under panic. A major fall in New York cotton future rates also induced the fall in prices, the report stated.

The prices of cotton yarn, on the other hand, showed a positive trend. The prices of 21s and 30s count cotton yarn soared from June 2012’s Pk Rs. 1,130 and Rs. 1,324 per bundle to Rs. 1,188 and Rs. 1,361 per bundle, during July 2012. (1 bundle= 4.54 kg). These prices prevailed at Rs. 1,172 and Rs. 1,331 per bundle respectively, in July 2011.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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