Voicing serious opposition over cotton imports,Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association(PCGA)has called on the Government to ban raw cotton imports,noting that there is no need to spend valuable foreign exchange on imports,as the country produces enough quantity to meet domestic textile industry's demand.
Addressing media,PCGA Chairman Mahesh Kumar said based on expectations of bumper production,the association pegs current season's cotton output at 14 million bales.
However,he said,the domestic textile mill owners have created a cartel to restrain cotton prices at the minimum levels.So far this season,textile firms have procured 7.65 million bales of cotton,while at least 1.772 million bales are lying with ginners as unsold stock.
According to the PCGA's fortnightly report,ginners in the country had procured around 9.58 million cotton bales by December 1 this year,which is 0.7 percent less than the quantity procured by them around same time,last year.
Mr.Kumar said 985 of around 1200 ginning factories in the country are concentrated in Punjab and Sindh.
