As per All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), this year, Pakistan will have to import least 6 million bales of cotton almost double what it imported last financial year. Erratic weather has crippled Pakistan’s cotton sector, resulting in lost revenue and jobs that could cost the economy more than $3 billion by the end of the fiscal year in June 2020, industry experts have warned.
Heavy rains and high temperatures during the whole of the cotton-growing season from April to September have severely damaged the crop in the country which has strained its entire textile industry.
Most of Pakistan’s cotton is grown in the southern part of Punjab province which experienced unexpectedly high temperatures in August and September, even at night. The rest is mainly cultivated in Sindh province in the southeast.
The state-run Central Cotton Research Institute in Multan has revealed that together, the heavy rains and dry spells have destroyed over a third of the country’s expected cotton harvest.
