Karachi: Despite the unprecedented decline in local cotton production in the cotton year 2024-25, ginning factories have large stocks of saleable cotton, which has left the local ginning sector disappointed.
The ginning industry has demanded that policymakers formulate an urgent strategy to promote the use of locally produced cotton and increase cotton production in the context of the current situation so that the per acre income of farmers can increase as a result of increased consumption and a significant increase in cotton cultivation can be possible in the future.
Chairman Cotton Ginners Forum Ehsan-ul-Haq said that according to the data released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association on the total national production of cotton, only 5.49 million cotton bales equivalent to phuti have been delivered to ginning factories across the country by January 15, 2025, which is 34 percent less than the same period last year.
According to the report, cotton production in Punjab decreased by 35 percent while in Sindh by 32 percent during the period under review.
He said that 18 percent sales tax is being levied on the purchase of cotton domestically, due to which textile mill owners have imported the highest amount of cotton and cotton yarn from abroad in the country’s history this year. Now reports are also being received that textile mills are also starting to import large quantities of cloth from abroad under the EFS scheme, which is likely to further affect the sales of locally produced cotton and cotton yarn.
