Pakistan’s domestic cotton stocks almost double, imports fall

Cotton imports into Pakistan, the world’s fourth-largest cotton producer, are likely to fall this year as a sharp rise in inventories helps offset a drop in local production.
In the fiscal year starting in July, Pakistan’s cotton imports may drop by 40% to 1.5 million bales (1 bale = 170 kilograms), Pakistan Cotton Commissioner Khalid Abdullah told a press conference in Karachi explain. Pakistan’s cotton stocks have nearly doubled to 1.5 million bales from 800,000 bales a year ago.
Cotton prices in New York have climbed 12% this year as farmers in the United States and Australia cut back on acreage after prices fell in 2011.
This year, Pakistan may not be able to meet its target of 13.26 million bales of cotton because monsoon rains have flooded some cotton fields.