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Cotton export can't be stopped on Aptma demand

AMER SIAL

ISLAMABAD: The export of cotton could not be halted on the demand of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association as the procured cotton is not likely to be consumed by the textile industry of the country, sources in the government said here on Thursday.

They said that Aptma had declared its consumption of cotton at 9.4 million bales, which does not match the data, because based upon capacity working of 6.65 million spindles during the 98-99, total cotton consumed by local industry was 7.98 million bales.

Their demand is also not likely to bear fruit as during the September-mid January period of this fiscal, Aptma imported 163,570 bales Karachi Port, 13,278 bales through Port Qasim and 7,790 bales through land from Central Asian States against an estimated production of over 10.5 million bales of cotton.

Sources said nobody knows about the exact quantity of long staple imports and requirements of the textile industry. They said according to independent estimates 70,000 to 80,000 bales of long staple cotton are imported into the country.

Aptma, said sources, was in no need to import this quantity of cotton at a time when the country was harvesting a bumper cotton crop and the only reason they were bound to import was their open LCs.

Even last year there was no shortage of cotton otherwise they would have raised hue and cry over it. They imported cotton only to crush the prices of local cotton so as to gain from it. Now at a time when international prices have started showing rising trend, they are lobbying to convert the cotton procured by TCP into a surplus pool, said sources.