Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) said on Monday that cotton arrival at the ginneries across the country has been recorded at 10.228 million bales.
The spokesman PCGA said it showed a minor increase of 0.09 percent in the national production compared to last year s 10.219 million bales till December 15.
A senior trader Ghulam Rabbani said in view of the crop damage by cotton leaf curl virus (CLCV) and mealy bug in the districts of Vehari, Khanewal, Multan and Lodhran, cotton crop assessment committee has already reduced national output target from 13.82 million bales to 12.41 million bales.
He said that Punjab has shown an excess of 2.45 percent production to 8.211 million bales output, while Sindh has registered a decline of 8.50 percent with 2.016 million bales.
He said textile mills purchases cotton briskly this year and so far they have bought 7.942 million bales compared to last year s 7.435 million bales.
He said that the private sector commercial exporters also remained busy in procuring lint and they have so far purchased 74,350 bales as compared to last year s 54,600 bales till Dec 15.
The unsold stocks lying at the ginneries include 1.068 million bales of cotton and 1.143 million bales of unginned phutti.
According to the PCGA, the approximate existing rates of lint and phutti (seed-cotton) in the open market are Rs 2400-2500 per maund and Rs 1100-1200 per 40 kg respectively in Punjab.
The government s revised support price for phutti is Rs 1,025 while its old support price for lint is Rs 2,269, which is yet to be revised, PCGA added.
Some 1050 ginning factories are operating in the country, out of which 863 are functioning in Punjab.
