Pakistan lacks a cotton standardisation system. Despite being the fourth largest cotton producing country in the world, Pakistan’s cotton considered as one of the most contaminated crops in the world. Losses due to cotton contamination run to millions of dollars. If proper standardisation is followed, over 45 per cent of Pakistani cotton would be traded at premium. Pakistan's cotton is inherently of good quality and a six-year survey reveals that only 8 to 10 per cent cotton falls in grade IV.

Cotton is traded on a weight basis and farmers are only interested in high yields. They give no attention to quality parameters and clean picking. Pickers on the other hand are paid for quantity of cotton picked in a day, regardless of the trash content. On the other hand, ginners mix high quality and contaminated cotton to get a blend that loses its value.

Indeed textile mills have installed cleaning equipment in their mills but have paid no attention to clean cotton production and standardisation. For spinning they use the cheapest cotton. For quality production they import cotton from India or other countries but are reluctant to pay more for quality from Pakistani farmers.