MULTAN - Seed cotton (Phutti) equivalent to 10.775 million bales has reached ginneries across Pakistan till April 15, registering a shortfall by 6.94 percent compared to corresponding period of the last year. Out of total arrivals, over 10.773 million bales have undergone the ginning process, says a fortnightly report of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) issued here Thursday. Arrivals in Punjab were recorded at over 6.625 million bales showing a shortfall by 9.56 per cent and over 4 million bales in Sindh registering 2.45 per cent shortfall compared to corresponding period of the last year.

Total sold out bales were recorded at over 10.124 million bales, including over 10 million bales bought by textile mills and another 102,330 bales purchased by exporters. Exactly 651,036 bales were still lying with the ginneries as unsold stock. Sanghar district of Sindh continued to remain on top with cotton arrival figures of over 1.28 million bales while Rahimyar Khan district of Punjab secured second berth with arrival figure of 1.19 million bales and Bahawalnagar stood third with just over a million or precisely 1,008,021 bales. The statistics show the shortfall was witnessed in 25 cotton districts out of total 32, including 18 out of total 21 in Punjab and seven out of total 11 cotton districts in Sindh. The report does not include cotton figures from districts of Kasur, and Sargodha.