Pakistan is facing a severe cotton crisis characterized by a sharp decline in domestic production and a growing reliance on foreign imports.
The collapse of the cotton sector threatens the stability of the national textile industry, which serves as a primary economic pillar for the country. As domestic yields fail, the resulting shortage disrupts supply chains and increases the cost of raw materials for textile mills.
To address the immediate shortage, the country has placed an import order for 206,000 bales of cotton from the U.S. [1]. Textile mills have also been forced to source cotton from Brazil to maintain operations [3]. These imports highlight a structural deficit in the domestic market that government officials have struggled to resolve.
Agricultural experts and officials said long-term policy contradictions are the primary cause of the decline. A significant factor is the shrinking amount of cotton-growing acreage in regions such as Punjab and Sindh [2]. Much of this land has been diverted to the cultivation of sugarcane, which has often been more lucrative for farmers due to government incentives [2].
Despite the current crisis, the government has set a targeted cotton production of 9.64 million bales for the 2026-27 season [2]. However, critics said that these targets may be unrealistic without a fundamental shift in agricultural policy, and a reversal of the trend toward sugarcane cultivation [2].
The crisis is now viewed as a national industrial problem rather than a simple agricultural dip [3]. The shift from a self-sufficient producer to a net importer of cotton exposes the economy to global price volatility and currency fluctuations, further straining the national balance of payments [3].
“Pakistan is facing a severe cotton crisis characterized by a sharp decline in domestic production.”
The transition of Pakistan's cotton industry from domestic self-sufficiency to import dependency signals a systemic failure in agricultural planning. By prioritizing sugarcane over cotton, the state has inadvertently undermined its own textile export capacity, creating a cycle where industrial growth is now tethered to the availability and pricing of US and Brazilian raw materials.
