Pakistan banking on Gujarat for its cotton imports

Pakistan, the neighbouring country has so far imported over 13 lakh bales worth Rs 2,000 crore from India is now banking on Gujarat, the largest cotton production state that accounts for more than 7 lakh bales worth over Rs1,000 crore to meet its requirement as it faces a substantial drop in cotton production.

Interestingly , Pakistan garnered the lion’s share of 46.6% of total 28.54 lakh bales exported from India during October-December 2015.

This year Pakistan has emerged as the largest buyer, a development which has buoyed distressed cotton growers and exporters in Gujarat. According to Arun Dalal, a city based cotton dealer, imports from Pakistan have helped exporters make up for the shortfall created by lower off take from China, the biggest cotton importer in the world.

Nirav Patel, director, Ambica Cotseed, a citybased export house said that they have exported around 1 lakh bales to Pakistan and all of them from Gujarat. They expect exports to Pakistan to increase further .

In wake of heavy rains in June-July 2015, especially in the cotton belt of Punjab and increased pest pressure of whitefly and pink bollworm, cotton production in Pakistan declined by an estimated 30% to 10.85 million bales for 2015-16 as against initial estimates of 15.49 million bales.

Kiran Patel, managing director, Pravin Group. Said that between November to December, they exported 70,000 bales of cotton to Pakistan including 15,000 bales from Maharashtra. Last year there was no demand.

On an average, Pakistan buys only 3-4 lakh bales from India. This year the cotton exports to Pakistan may reach a record. For any cotton going out of India, Gujarat takes the lead. Already a good quantity has been exported and it would not be surprising to see cotton exports to Pakistan crossing 20 lakh bales this year, said P R Roy , chairman, Diagonal Consulting India, a textile advisory firm.

Increased buying from Pakistan has also pushed up prices of cotton to Rs 34,500 per candy (one candy weighs 356 kg), which were around Rs 32,000 per candy couple of months back.

China, Bangladesh and Vietnam are the traditional cotton importers from Gujarat.

Recent Posts

HKRITA develops temperature intelligent clothing

HKRITA has developed an intelligent clothing system that can automatically adjust its thermal insulation according to changes in temperature.

11 hours ago

John Smedley, Wales Bonner launch knitwear collection

British knitwear manufacturer John Smedley and London-based fashion label Wales Bonner have released their second co-branded collection for Autumn/Winter 2026.

11 hours ago

ReFiber launches nationwide campaign for unused garments in India

ReFiber has launched a campaign to collect unused clothes from consumers and help address the growing problem of post-consumer textile…

11 hours ago

Peak Performance introduces functional activewear collection

Swedish outdoor brand Peak Performance has introduced its new Treeline shell collection, designed for people who enjoy outdoor activities throughout…

2 days ago

Xtep launches shoes with advanced carbon fiber technology

Xtep has launched its new flagship marathon running shoe range, the 160X 8.0 Ultra, featuring a high-end GT1200 carbon sole…

2 days ago

NUS researchers convert carbon fibers into aerogels

Researchers at National University of Singapore have developed a method to transform difficult-to-recycle carbon fibre and epoxy composite waste into…

2 days ago