Pakistan local cotton markets witnessed about 10.63 percent increase in cotton arrival during the first week of February 2017 as compared to the arrival of 9.612 million bales during the same month last year, an official in the ministry of textile industry said on Friday.

By February 1, 2017 cotton arrival from Punjab witnessed 16.94 percent increase, as over 6.849 million cotton bales arrived in the market. He said that crop arrival from Sindh was recorded at over 3.784 million bales, registering an increase of 0.79 percent as compared to the same period last year.

During February 2016, around 5.857 million bales of cotton arrived in Punjab, whereas 3.755 million bales arrived in Sindh. During the period under review, highest number of bales arrived from Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan, at 1.188 million bales and 1.144 million bales, respectively, the official said. Meanwhile, Sanghar and Sukkur were the leading districts in Sindh, which delivered 1.230 million bales and 542 831 bales, respectively.

Out of the total inventory in local markets, about 9.717 million bales have been sold compared to 8.390 million bales in the same month of last year.

Despite the torrential rains and flash floods in some cotton growing areas, local crop arrival has increased when compared to the output during the same period last year.

The Ministry of Textile Industry in collaboration with stakeholders by adopting innovative crop technologies want to boost local crop production like Cotton. In Punjab, cotton sowing registered 21 percent decrease while an increase of two percent was registered in Sindh.

In order to enhance cotton crop in the country, Pakistan Cotton Crop Committee (PCCC) in collaboration with the provincial governments was striving to enhance post harvest management capacities of pests. The PCCC would start training programmes on off season pest management for better output.