LAHORE: An unusual difference in the cotton production data released by the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) and the Crop Reporting Service of the Punjab Agriculture Department has raised many eyebrows and caused a wave of concern in the cotton sector.

According to the production data released by the PCGA up till July 31, the total domestic production of cotton in Pakistan remained 844,000 bales, which is 41 percent less than the production during the same period last year.

The report says that this season 293,000 bales of them arrived at the ginning factories in Punjab, and 552,000 bales in Sindh`s units. When comparedwith the same period of last year, it is 47pc less in Punjab and 25pc less in Sindh.

The main reason behind this drop in cotton production is stated to be a record decrease in the crop cultivation as compared to the last year`s due to adverse weather conditions and lower cotton prices, contradictory to the government`s promise of maintaining it at Rs8,500 per maund.

Cotton Ginner`s Forum chairman Ihsanul Haq says that the Punjab Crop Reporting Service has surprisingly quoted cotton production figures around 54pc more than what is being reported by the PCGA.

He says that even if some ginning factories have allegedly sold a part of their cotton bales illegally without mentioning it in their official documents, it may not make much of a difference because the agriculture department, like the PCGA, also relies on the information received from the ginning factories.

Quoting an example, he says that as per the PCGA, cotton production in Rahim Yar Khan district was 5,400 bales, while the agriculture departmentputs this figure at only 2,700 bales, which is 100pc less than the association`s report.

He says that in almost all cotton zones, there are reports of considerable damage to the cotton crop due to the ongoing heavy rains, while cotton prices in Pakistan have fallen during the last week because of the decrease in cotton supply due to the rains.

An increase of Rs500 to Rs1,000 per maund has been observed in Punjab where cotton prices remained stable at Rs18,200 per maund and in Sindh Rs17,500 per maund.

He says the textile sector crisis in the country may be gauged from the fact that the textile mills have bought only 744,000 bales from the ginning factories till July 31 this year, while they had procured 1.292 million bales during the same period last year.

He demands that the federal government should immediately withdraw the heavy taxes imposed on the textile and ginning sector so that the country`s economy may grow and undocumented sale of cotton may be controlled to collect more revenue from the sector.