Cotton arrivals up 7.5pc as 500 ginning factories idle
By mid-October, ginning factories had taken in over four million bales, yet industry groups say hundreds of mills and ginneries remain shut amid cost and import pressures.
Cotton arrivals reached 4,081,265 bales by 15 October, up 7.53% from a year earlier.
Industry representatives say about 500 ginning factories, over 150 textile mills and nearly half of power looms are idle.
Punjab arrivals were 1.64 million bales and Sindh 2.44 million, both up more than 7%.
Ginners and Aptma link the squeeze to higher costs and alleged misuse of the Export Facilitation Scheme.
About 531,530 bales remained unsold after mill and exporter purchases.