The Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) at the meeting held on Monday assessed cotton crop size for the season 2014-15 at 13.4885 million bales. They have agreed to maintain the cotton crop size for 2014-15 in Punjab at 9.902m bales, Sindh at 3.48m bales, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 0.0015m bales and Balochistan at 0.1070m bales, respectively.

Cotton Commissioner Dr Khalid Abdullah informed the meeting about cotton crop condition and status of cotton arrival position in ginning factories. The major obstacles in achieving cotton production targest were climate and seed quality issues.

The representative from the Karachi Cotton Association stressed upon development of long and extra long staple cotton varieties to get premium prices while trading cotton internationally.

While Secretary Ministry of Textile Industry Amir Marwat urged stakeholders for putting extra efforts in increasing cotton acreage which is a high value crop and single largest export earner. He also directed to engage cotton experts of Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) in cotton promotional and extension campaigns being launched by KP.

The third meeting of the CCAC was headed by Secretary Ministry of Textile Industry Amir Marwat and attended by representatives from Pakistan Central Cotton Committee, Pakistan Cotton Standards Institute, Karachi Cotton Association, Trading Corporation of Pakistan, among others.