Floods: Pak textile export hit by cotton crop failure

Pakistans textile sector, which accounts for over one third of the countrys exports, was severely hit due to damage to the cotton crop.Southern Pakistans Sindh Province, the countrys main cotton production base, was facing the aftermath of the deluge in September, most of its cotton crop fields failing or washed away by the floods.The flooding also reduced the quality of cotton which turned dark after being drowned. Cotton markets in the flood-ravaged area, which used to be seeing a high trade volume at this time of the year saw an obvious decline. Some cotton growers could hardly find a buyer for their cotton after bargaining with some five to six cotton purchase stations.Most textile companies, which had suffered a sharp decline in cotton supply, also had to stop buying low-quality cotton in the flood-hit area, a blow to the sector which produced 35 percent of exports of Pakistan last year.