Rains Ruin Two Million Bales in Pakistan

Once again, it appears as though Pakistan’s cotton crops will be damaged by excessive rains. The good news is that, although experts are estimating that flooded fields could cost the country 2 million bales of its production, it’s nothing approaching the catastrophic flooding seen in 2010, when more than $3 billion of agricultural crops were destroyed.

Still, the floods affected 1.7 million acres of land in the Sindh province, which produces cotton, sugar cane and rice. In addition, about 300,000 people were left homeless. Economists say it will be three to four more weeks before the full extent of the damage is known.

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The domestic spinning mills, which are a critical part of the Pakistani national economy, are now expected to need to import about 1.4 million bales of cotton to meet their needs in the coming year. Cotton accounts for 6.9 percent of Pakistan’s agricultural revenue and represents 1.4 percent of the country’s overall gross domestic product.
 

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