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Related Keywords: boosted import demand, cotton area plunges, Faced with low cotton prices, farmers cutting back on labour and crop spraying, farmers reduce cotton planting, lower than expected sowings, Pakistani farmers, Pakistani import demand revised, pest outbreaks, switching to more profitable crops, US Department of Agriculture Islamabad bureau

With Pakistani farmers switching to more profitable crops, its cotton area will fall to a 31-year low next season, US officials warn. Even with an expected uptick in yields, the 2016-17 crop was forecast at just 8.0m bales, down from an earlier estimate of 9.0m bales. Aside from last year's 7.0m bale crop, this would be the smallest harvest since 2003-4.

The US Department of Agriculture's Islamabad bureau trimmed ideas for the Pakistani cotton crop, thanks to lower than expected sowings, and boosted import demand.

Related Keywords: cotton imports through the land route from India, decline in last year cotton crop, low commodity prices, Pakistani farmers, recommended imposition of regulatory duty, Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research, TCP

The Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research unanimously recommended immediate imposition of regulatory duty on cotton imports through the land route, after being informed by Cotton Commissioner Khalid Abdullah that the decline in last year’s cotton crop resulted due to low commodity prices and APTMA pressurizing to allow duty free import of one million cotton bales from India through the Wagha border which could jeopardize the local cotton crop.