Phutti (seed cotton) fortnightly arrivals have been witnessing falling trend in growth from 15.27pc recorded up to December to 13.75pc in middle of the month and to 9.36pc up to Jan 1, and now 7.16pc during the last fortnight.

Phutti arrivals registered a growth of 7.16 per cent in the fortnight (Jan 1 to 15), declining from 15pc at the start of this season (2013-14), indicating that the crop size would not be much bigger than that of last year.

The latest fortnightly figures recorded further slowdown in phutti arrivals and as a result the higher growth over the last year came down to 7.16pc at 12.883 million bales compared to 12.022m bales harvested in the same period last season.

The drastic fall in the arrivals could be verified from the fact that during last fortnight there was short arrival of around 212,011 bales into the ginneries as against 435,260 bales in the same period last year, showing a shortfall of 223,249 bales.

Even the diminished growth at 7.16pc over the previous year, however, resulted into higher production of 860,923 cotton bales over the corresponding period of last year.

However, it is encouraging that phutti arrival growth in Sindh is still in double digits at 12.87pc and cotton production during the period under review stood higher at 3.72m bales as against 3.296m bales a year earlier. Resultantly, the province has so far produced around 424,120 more cotton bales compared to last year. Around 69 ginning units are still operating in the province compared to 94 factories in the same period last season.

In Punjab, the arrivals dipped down to 5pc from around 15pc recorded up to December last year. During the outgoing fortnight, Punjab produced 9.162m bales as against 8.725m bales in the corresponding period last season. This means around 436,803 more bales were produced over last year.

The millers have so far purchased higher quantity of cotton at 11.016m bales compared to 10.234m bales in the corresponding period last season. Similarly, exporters also lifted larger quantity at 338,538 bales as against 200,586 bales last year. The unsold stocks held by ginners stand at 1.528m bales compared to 1.586m bales a year earlier.

Currently, around 194 ginning units are still operating in Punjab compared to 618 units in the same period last year.