20000205

Cotton output

set to cross

revised

target

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Total cotton production will cross the revised target of 10 million bales as the arrival reached 9.2 million bales on January 1 and another one million is expected up to the end of the season.

According to the figures released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners' Association, compared to the last year, about 2.4 million additional bales have been recorded by the ginners.

The ginners said the arrival is continue mainly in Punjab.

The unsold stocks is about 1.429 million bales compared to last year's 1.502 million bales.

The ginners said that the textile mills were not buying the required quantity that is causing a glut of cotton in the ginning factories.

However, the textile mill said that the prices have shot up just because of speedy buying by them.

So far about 7.128 million bales have been purchased by the textile millers. The ginners said that the textile millers still need over 2 million bales.

The PCGA, Chairman Sheikh Saeed said that the textile millers should not make efforts to stop Trading Corporation of Pakistan from exporting cotton.

The TCP has stock of about 509,950 bales and is set to sign some export deals. The textile millers argue that the export of raw cotton will further push up the prices in the country.

After a spell of extremely low prices that prevailed in the cotton market for a couple of month, the cotton has reached to Rs.1800 per maund which is a normal price.

The ginners said that if the TCP enters the local market, it will again weaken the market and the prices would fell to as low as they were 20 days back.