pakistan Import of 2.5mn bales likely to meet shortfall

Govt of Pakistan had set a target of 13.3mn bales for the 2009-10  crops, but attacks by pests and cotton leaf curl virus have taken a  toll and the output is projected at 12.7mn bales.

KARACHI: Pakistan will need to import about 2.5 million bales in the  last quarter of the financial year to June 2010 to mop up demand,  traders said on Thursday, with most of the supplies expected to come from neighbouring india.

World cotton output is forecast to rise 10 per cent to 24.2 million  tons in 2010-11, led by larger production from China, an international  farm group said last month.

Pakistan’s output from the 2009-10 crop year that runs from April to  March is projected at 12.70 million bales, compared with 11.8 million  the previous year. Domestic consumption fluctuates between 14 million  and 16 million bales a year.

Ginners have stocks of 800,000 bales as of Jan 31, compared with 1.5  million bales at the same time last year, with another 200,000 bales  expected from the remaining 2009-10 crop, traders said, meaning  supplies will dry up by the end of March.

“There is no stock after that and we will have to import about 2.5  million bales to meet demand for the April-June quarter,” Sohail  Naseem, chairman of the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA), told Reuters.

“Most of the supplies are expected from India as it costs less in  transportation and takes fewer days for delivery as compared to other  sources.”

Another prominent trader, Naseem Usman, estimated total imports for  the April-June quarter at between 1.5 million and 2 million bales, as  roughly 600,000 bales had already been imported and some more were in  the pipeline.

While some supplies will be coming from other sources such as Brazil,  Pakistan would mostly be relying on India for cotton, said Usman, who  heads the Karachi Cotton Brokers Forum.

KCA chairman Naseem said that while Indian cotton production had  surged significantly in the last decade, Pakistan’s cotton output had  become stagnant at about 12 million bales over the past few years.

The government had set a target of 13.36 million bales for the 2009-10  crop after the area under cultivation increased to 3.2 million  hectares (7.9 million acres) from 2.8 million hectares last year, but  attacks by pests and cotton leaf curl virus have taken a toll. —Reuters

Source:http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/business/13+import-of-2.5m-bales-likely-to-meet-shortfall-520-za-11