Production And The Textile Industry: Cotton Growth In Pakistan

摘要

An excerpt from the Pakistan country report presented at the ICAC 64th Plenary in Liverpool.The cotton crop occupies a unique position in Pakistan's economy with the bulk of export receipts being accrued through cotton and textiles. The gross export receipts in 2004-05 were provisionally estimated at US 14.41 billion dollar, of which cotton andtextiles accounted for US 8.68 billion dollar or 60%. As such, this cash crop is believed to be the life line of the national economy. Cotton has invariably been important for economic growth and development in the country. In 1947/48, when Pakistan appeared on the world map, the country was producing merely 1.16 million bales of cotton and only two textile mills were in existence. The process of textile industry development had started soon after the independence and in the year 1948 one more textilemill was setup. The number of cotton bales and the textile mills thus kept on increasing in the following years. There has been visible improvement in cotton production since then and the country is now producing long staple cotton of 1-1/8" and even longer, whereas in the early years the bulk production was of 1" staple or less. The increase in cotton production has also been instrumental in expanding the textile industry.