Pakistan Textile Council (PTC) in a statement on Monday said, the country should import cotton from neighboring India to avoid another balance of payment crisis. The country’s textiles industry, which earned more than $19 billion in exports last year, is facing a shortage of raw material as flash floods have damaged about half of the nation’s cotton produce since June, it said.
As part of the devastation, flood damage will likely force Pakistan to increase cotton imports at a time when production in the US is forecasted to plunge by 28 per cent due to drought, and with restrictions on China, Pakistan will not be able to procure raw materials from there as well, the Council said.
The outlook for Brazil is also not very encouraging. According to ABRAPA, the drought there has already dried up an estimated 200,000 tons of cotton supply.
All these factors are causing the price of cotton to increase in local and international markets. Given the continuous depreciation of the rupee and a record high shipping freight, importing cotton from far-located countries like the US, Brazil, Egypt, etc. will not be economically viable, the PTC said.
“Import of raw cotton from India must be immediately allowed to mitigate the raw material shortage,” it said. The move will help Pakistan reduce trade time and curtail heavy logistics costs.
