Pakistan’s cotton has a high level of contamination. Contamination is one of the critical issues spinners face in their efforts to maintain first grade yarn quality. The contamination proportion is 20 gm per bale, while the international market standard is only 2.5 gm per bale. Contamination produces low quality lint cotton, yarn and manufactured goods. Generally, the quality of cotton is determined by its color, fiber length, strength and finesse. One of the important factors which make the quality of raw cotton low is contamination.

Pakistan’s cotton has a large impurity content. It has a high level of foreign matter, trash water contents and is considered poor by international standards. These impurities have been reducing the beneficial effect of improved cultivation and impairing not only the quality of raw cotton but also the subsequent processes of textile products.

One way to avoid contamination is to start picking at the time when fully matured bolls are opened. A number of impurities like pieces of leaves, immature and empty bolls, stems, flowers, sticks and weeds, trash and dust mix with cotton due to carelessness of pickers. Cotton is the most important cash crop of Pakistan. It is a major source of foreign exchange earnings and also provides livelihood to millions of people.