Pakistan's cotton arrivals rise 7.5% to 4.08 million bales, but textile mills keep closing

More cotton is reaching Pakistan's ginning factories than at this point last year, but the wider textile industry says it is in its deepest crisis in years, with hundreds of ginneries and mills shut.

The numbers

Cotton arrivals at ginning factories reached 4,081,265 bales by October 15, 2026, according to the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) — 285,628 bales, or 7.53%, more than the 3,795,637 bales recorded by the same date last season. About 873,000 bales arrived in the latest fortnight alone, and 471 ginning factories were operating across the country.

Province	Bales by Oct 15	Change on last year
Sindh	2,442,768	+7.35%
Punjab	1,638,497	+7.79%
Pakistan	4,081,265	+7.53%

Top districts: Sanghar led the country with about 1.14 million bales, followed in Sindh by Sukkur (264,500), Naushehro Feroze (223,200) and Khairpur (213,900). In Punjab, Bahawalnagar led with 418,750 bales, ahead of Bahawalpur (294,606), Dera Ghazi Khan (236,514), Rahim Yar Khan (169,949) and Layyah (122,327).

Sales: textile mills have bought about 3.45 million bales and exporters about 97,000, leaving 531,530 bales unsold at ginneries.

An industry under strain

Despite the higher arrivals, industry representatives say around 500 ginning factories and more than 150 textile mills have closed, and nearly half of the country's power looms are idle. Textiles are Pakistan's biggest export sector and one of its largest employers, so closures hit jobs in cities such as Faisalabad, Multan and Karachi as well as farmers who depend on selling their crop.

Provincial estimates also differ: the Punjab Crop Reporting Service puts the province's production at 2.98 million bales, far above the 1.64 million bales that had actually reached Punjab's ginneries by October 15.

The import row

Much of the industry's anger is aimed at the Export Facilitation Scheme (EFS), which allows exporters to import inputs duty-free if they use them to make goods for export. Ginners and spinners say yarn and fabric imported under the scheme are instead being sold in the local market, where domestic products carry 18% sales tax, undercutting Pakistani cotton.

Figures from the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) for the first quarter of the fiscal year show how fast such imports have grown compared with a year earlier:

Import (July–September)	Last year	This year
Man-made yarn	3,056 tonnes	12,773 tonnes
Man-made fabric	660 tonnes	8,628 tonnes

The chairman of the Cotton Ginners Forum estimated that 40–50 million metres of fabric had come in from China under the scheme. APTMA welcomed recent customs action against alleged misuse and has asked the government to restrict imports of man-made yarn and fabric under the EFS.

Advice for farmers

The Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) in Multan says about 15–20 days of picking remain. It urged farmers to protect yields, watch closely for pink bollworm and pick mature bolls promptly in dry weather. For fields with 8–10 green bolls per plant, it recommends spraying 2kg of urea dissolved in 100 litres of water. It also warned that lower returns this year could push farmers to plant less cotton next season unless policy addresses costs, profitability and lint quality.

What the industry wants

• A support price: the Karachi Cotton Brokers Forum asked the government to announce a minimum price for cotton and a procurement system that steps in when market prices fall below it.
• Import controls: limits on duty-free yarn and fabric imports under the EFS.
• Weather watch: the Cotton Ginners Forum warned that bad weather in the final weeks could push national output below early estimates.

What happens next

The PCGA publishes arrivals figures every two weeks; the next report will cover arrivals up to October 31. The government's response to the EFS complaints, and whether it announces a support price, will shape planting decisions for next season.