Pakistan has lifted the ban on import of Indian cotton. So 12,000 bales that were detained at the port will be freed for entry. The decision was taken since the local crop has fallen short of target. Indian exporters had signed contracts to export 3,50,000 bales to Pakistan since the start of the marketing year on October 1 and out of that nearly 3,00,000 bales for shipments in December and January had got stuck.

Pakistan is the world's third largest cotton consumer. It usually starts importing from September. Last year, Pakistan bought 2.7 million bales from India. In 2015-16, Pakistan surpassed Bangladesh to become India's biggest cotton buyer, accounting for 40 per cent of exports. Pakistan bought 822 million dollars worth of cotton from India last year.

Currently, Pakistan’s cotton arrivals have recorded an increase of 12.33 per cent to 10.14 million bales till December 15 against 9.03 million bales last year. However the crop remains far below the consumption demand of 14.5 million bales. Last year Pakistan imported 2.7 million bales from India that also contained binola. Ginning in Gujarat and Maharashtra is done on the roller technology, under which some cut seed (binola) remains part of the lint that is later removed by local spinners.