August 25, 2010

Pakistan's crop area suffers US$2.8-billion losses 

Floods in Pakistan have affected about a fifth of the country's total crop area, causing losses worth US$2.8 billion, according to a statement from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

Flood surges, triggered by unprecedented monsoon rains, have washed away more than a quarter of the estimated summer rice crop and shaved off 16% of the estimated cotton output, the statement said.

It has damaged crops sown over 1.93 million acres, or 776,996 hectares.

Large swathes of land have been inundated, with four districts in Sindh province ravaged, affecting 200,000 people and claiming at least 1,500 lives.

The calamity has ravaged 18%, or 0.59 million acres, of the area under the cotton crop, destroying around 2.25 million bales of 170 kg each. Cotton output will shrink to 11.76 million bales from the 14 million bales estimated at the start of the season by Pakistan's food and agriculture ministry.

Cotton is an important raw material for the key textile export sector, one of the few sources of Pakistan's export income.

Earlier this month, ICE cotton futures prices peaked since March 2008 on concerns of anticipated shortfalls in global stockpiles caused partly by the floods in Pakistan, the fourth-largest producer.