Pakistan faces a cotton import bill of around $2 billion in the current financial year 2026-27 as domestic production is projected to fall to just 4.9 million bales.
According to a recent US Department of Agriculture report, Pakistan’s cotton production is expected to remain far below the government’s target of 9.6 million bales. The local spinning industry requires around 10 million bales annually.
This means Pakistan may need to import more than 5 million cotton bales to meet industrial demand, with the imports estimated to cost around $2 billion, or Rs. 600 billion.
Discussing the report, FPCCI Policy Advisory Board Chairman Mian Zahid Hussain said the decline would put additional pressure on Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves while the money that could have gone to local farmers would instead be paid to foreign producers.
He said the government needs to take urgent steps to revive cotton production and support cotton ginners, farmers and the textile industry.
Pakistan’s cotton production has already remained well below its earlier levels. Production stood at around 7 million bales in FY2023-24, before falling to 5 million bales in FY2024-25. It remained at around 5.6 million bales in FY2025-26, while cotton imports reached about 6 million bales.
Mian Zahid said the continuous decline is largely linked to a reduction in the area under cotton cultivation, which has fallen by around 33 percent over the past decade.
He also pointed to high industrial energy costs as another challenge for the sector. According to him, industries in neighboring countries receive electricity at around 8 cents per unit, compared with around 14 cents per unit in Pakistan.
He supported demands to shift sugar mills out of cotton-growing zones, remove sales tax on cotton and related by-products, eliminate fixed taxes in electricity bills and ensure full implementation of the Cotton Control Act.
Mian Zahid Hussain also called for the government to launch the proposed “Grow Cotton, Save Economy” campaign on an emergency basis and provide the ginning sector with industrial status so it can access electricity and gas at competitive industrial rates.
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