Pakistan asks India to keep up promise of cotton export

With Pakistan reeling from the after-effects of floods, its textile mill sector has appealed to India to honour the commitments for dispatching raw cotton, in letter and in spirit.

After floods devastated large tracts of farm land, cotton production in Pakistan was affected along with other major crops. In such a situation, Pakistani textile mills not only require the contracted amount of cotton from India, but a liberal gesture in the form of additional raw cotton as well.

Addressing a press conference here, All-Pakistan Textile Mills Association vice chairman Shahzad Ali Khan pointed out that India exported only one lakh bales out of the contracted quantity of 10 lakh bales. What the industry needed was not just the entire contracted amount, but an additional quantity. India had so far exported about 30 lakh bales of cotton to other countries and was in a position to assist the Pakistani textile industry.

Urging India to “help a neighbour,” Mr. Khan expressed the hope that the remaining quantity of nine lakh bales would be shipped at the earliest. Pakistan faces a severe supply crunch on the raw cotton front due to floods in parts of cotton growing areas in the country. Pakistan lost about 25 lakh bales of cotton and faces an overall deficit of 40 lakh bales.

The Pakistan Textile Mills Association, he said, had already submitted a request in this regard to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. A similar plea has been lodged with the Pakistan High Commission with the hope that it would be followed up with the Indian industry and the government. Desperate for succour from India, the Pakistani textile industry has also taken up the issue with the cotton exporters in Mumbai.

Source:

INDIAN NEWSPAPER THE HINDU