Bumper Pakistan Cotton Crop Likely

Expectations of a record cotton crop in Pakistan have lifted prospects for the country's textile sector, just as it faces the challenge of the global quota-free trade regime that came in to effect last month.Pakistan is expected to produce at least 13.7m bales (of 375lbs each) in the year ending June, up from a target of 10.7m bales, according to agriculture ministry estimates. This would exceed the 12.8m bales reached in 1993, the previous record.Pakistan is the world's fourth-largest cotton producer after the US, China and India.