India’s cotton industry is a happy lot now, thanks to the whitefly ravage that has gripped Pakistan, threatening to push Pakistan’s cotton production to an 18-year low
in 2015/16, according to the latest projection from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) predicts Pakistan’s average annual yield would fall by 22 per cent to 637 kg per hectare.
Pakistan imported 1.66 million bales of cotton (at 170 kg apiece) from India during the October-December 2015 quarter, overtaking Bangladesh as the country’s number one customer. That was nearly half of India’s total fibre exports of 3.52 million bales. By comparison, Pakistan imported just 3,80,000 bales from the country in the same period the previous year. As a result, India’s textile ministry has upgraded its cotton export guidance to 7 million bales for the 2015-16 seasonâ€â€21 per cent more than last year’s 5.77 million bales.
Pakistan’s cotton production has plunged 33 per cent to 9.612 million bales this season, the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) said.