Urgent relief to cotton ginners, textile industry urged

According to Business Recorder, Mian Zahid Hussain, president of the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), warned that failing to aid cotton ginners and the textile industry could let other countries take Pakistan's remaining global share. Backing the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), he called for sugar mills in cotton zones to be moved and sales tax on cotton to be scrapped.

Citing a September 2026 report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), he said Pakistan's cotton output for 2026-27 is projected at 4.9 million bales, against a target of 9.6 million bales. The domestic spinning sector needs 10 million bales a year, so covering the gap would require imports of over 5 million bales, worth about $2 billion or Rs600 billion. He linked the decline mainly to a roughly 33 percent fall in cultivated area over the past decade.

He also said Pakistan's GDP has stagnated at $452 billion and exports have frozen around the $30 billion mark, while industrial costs rank highest in the region. He described the permission for sugar mills in cotton zones as a historic, strategic error, and urged that the Cotton Control Act be enforced in its true spirit. He said the law aims to shield cotton land from rival crops, guarantee standard seed supply and guard crops against disease and tainted pesticides.