ISLAMABAD: Pakistani traders have inked fresh contracts on new rates to import cotton from India, after Indian exporters delivered little under previous deals on lower prices, Pakistani industry officials said on Wednesday. Textile firms in the world’s third-largest cotton consumer have banked on neighbouring India to meet demand after massive summer floods damage to the domestic crop caused an estimated shortfall of about 4 million tonnes.Pakistan’s textile industry accounts for about 60 percent of the country’s total exports. “Traders here have signed new contracts between $1.33 and $1.50 per lb and about 60,000 bales have already arrived,” Naseem Usman, chairman of the Karachi-based Cotton Brokers Forum, told Reuters.
“Very little has come from the previous contracts signed earlier, after a slight upward adjustment between the parties.” Traders had booked about 1 million bales in the August-September period for delivery from October to January from India, the world’s second largest producer, industry officials said.But Pakistani traders said in October that the majority of Indian dealers told them they were unable to meet commitments as they had not been able to register for cotton exports in time. India suspended the online process of registering cotton exports in early October after receiving applications equal to the stipulated exportable surplus of 5.5 million cotton bales. Most Pakistani dealers alleged Indian exporters used registration suspensions as an “excuse” to escape their contracts because of rising international cotton prices in recent months
