Pakistan’s cotton production during marketing year (Aug/Jul) 2020/21 is forecasted to be 1.37 million tons. This year, the area under cotton cultivation in the country is projected to decline by 12 per cent to 2.2 million hectares (MHA), due to a shift to other remunerable crops like corn, rice, and sugarcane. Cotton yield is expected to recover from the last year as only core cotton farmers will utilize their experiences to enhance productivity. The yield for marketing year 2020-21 is projected at 623 kg per hectare, 8 percent higher than the current year’s estimate of 575 kg per hectare.

In marketing year 2019/20 production, Pakistan produced 1.4million ton of cotton which was 13 percent lower than the previous year’s production of 1.65 million ton. The key factors that result in lowering of this production included extremely high temperatures during the critical month of September 2019, which hampered the development of fruiting bodies, severe attacks of whitefly and pink boll worms, and lower seed cotton prices.