Mohammad
Akber, the vice-chairman of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association
(APTMA), said, “The spinners are scouring cotton growing countries for
importing the fiber on concerns of disruption to domestic supply chain.”..Akber
said that the floods triggered by torrential rains could have destroyed
2.5 million to 3 million bales (1 bale weighs 170 kg) of cotton in
Pakistan…”It is difficult to say anything on the exact crop
losses because floods are still playing havoc in Sindh. But it is safe
to assume that our domestic cotton output will not exceed 11 million
bales,” Akber told the Dawn…The loss of cotton crop means that
the spinning industry will have to import up to four million bales this
year to meet its requirements…APTMA-Punjab chairman Gohar Ejaz
urged the government to make immediate efforts to import at least two
million bales of cotton from the US on a deferred payment basis through
the Trading Corporation of Pakistan, Xinhua news agency reported…Akber
said the spinners were facing shortage of cotton as they couldn’t
import the fibre in the past several months due to restrictions imposed
on yarn export…”Had the government allowed the free market
mechanism to function smoothly, the mills would not have to face this
situation now,” he said…He said most mills were running far below their installed capacity because of the shortage of raw material…The
crop losses in Pakistan have led to concerns about a possible steep
rise in global cotton and apparel prices as the world cotton supplies
are feared to lag far behind the consumption demand…Akber said
the domestic cotton prices in India were also expected to increase
because of the import orders from Pakistan and added, “It is a worldwide
phenomenon and prices are likely to stay upwards because of the global
shortages.”
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Date:8/30/2010
Source:www.commodityonline.com