Renewed buying and larger output balance cotton prices.

(From Business Recorder)

Byline: S A AZIZ SHAH

The private estimates of Pakistan cotton crop (2004-2005) have now converged to the narrow range of 14.5 to 15.0 million local bales while initially official estimates were at 10.7 million 170-Kg bales which have now been revised upward to 13.2 million 170-Kg bales and are likely to be further revised upward to 14.0 million 170-Kg bales by the next month.

Although, there was lot of hue and cry about shortages of irrigation water and availability of fertiliser both in Sindh and Punjab provinces but the God has given us a record high crop of about 15.0 million bales - about 50 % higher than that of last year. Not only alone Pakistan has produced record high cotton crop this season but other cotton prominent countries viz: China, USA, India, Uzbekistan and Brazil have also done it. It is squarely due to cotton friendly weather on global basis.

The Government of Pakistan should take all necessary measure to maintain this level of production by improving agronomic conditions and adoption of bio-technology in evolving Bt. Cottonseeds / hybrid cottonseeds.

Unfortunately, whenever, a record …