Cotton is cultivated in almost 80countries around the world. World cotton production stands at 113.76 million480 lb. bales in 2008. Pakistan is the fourth largest producer of cotton with a production of 9.0 million bales and a share of just under 8% in the world cotton production. China, India and United States rank 1st, 2ndand 3rd in terms of cotton production with 36.5, 25 and 13.7 millionbales, which account for 32%, 22% and 12%, respectively, of world cotton production (Fig 1).
Fig. 1 Production of Cotton in MajorCountries in 2008
Pakistan had its record production of cotton of 11.138 million bales in 2004. Ever since there has been an overalldownward trend of cotton production in the country (see Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 Yearly Cotton ProductionTrend in Pakistan
In terms of cotton consumption, Pakistan is ranked at 3rd position with an annual demand of 12.2 million bales, after China and India with an annual demand of 52.8, 18.2 million bales respectively (Fig. 3).
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Fig. 3 Consumption of Cotton by Major Countries in 2008
Cotton consumption by the Pakistani textile industry increased steadily from 1998 to 2006, because of rapid expansion of the spinning sector. Since 2006, there is a slight downward trend in the demand because of no further expansions and closure of some spinning units (Fig. 4).
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Fig. 4 Yearly Cotton Consumption Trend in Pakistan
There is a gap of 3.2 million bales between cotton consumption and production in Pakistan (Fig. 5). In order to fill this gap, Pakistan has to import cotton from other countries (Fig.6).
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Fig. 5 Gap of Consumption and Production of Cotton in Pakistan
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Fig. 6 Trend of Cotton Imports in Pakistan
Pakistan has to spend around 1.2 billion dollars on importing cotton for meeting its annual demand. This money can be saved by increasing the per Hectare yield, in terms of which Pakistan is ranked 21st in the group of cotton producing countries (Fig. 7).
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Fig. 7 Cotton Yield of Major Cotton Producing Countries
Australia is ranked at the top with a yield of 1742 Kg (i.e. 8 bales) per hectare; China stands at 4th position with 1325 Kg (i.e. 6 bales) per hectare, and United States at no. 13 with 951 Kg (i.e. 4.4 bales) per hectare. Pakistan's per hectare yield is 676 kg (i.e. 3.1 bales), which is about half that of China's. India is the second largest producer of cotton owing to the largest cotton cultivated area in the world although in terms of per hectare yield it is ranked at no. 25 with a yield of 579 kg (i.e. 2.65 bales) per hectare.
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Fig. 8 Cotton Cultivated Area in Major Cotton Producing Countries
If Pakistan wishes to increase its production of cotton in order to meet the countrys existing consumption demand, it has several options among the two given below:
a) Increase cotton cultivation area from the existing 2.9 million hectares to 3.93 million hectares maintaining the existing level of cotton yield per hectare
b) Increase cotton yield per hectare from the existing 3.1 bales/hectare to 4.2 bales/hectare maintaining the existing level of the cotton cultivation area
Data Source: USDA
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