Introduction

PAKISTAN COTTON STANDARDS INSTITUTE

Background

Pakistan cotton is inherently of good quality but absence of quality measures, improper marketing and as well as non existence of a pricing system based on premia and discount leads to depreciation of the value of raw cotton and the resulting textile products. Being cognizant of these problems the government decided to introduce standardization of cotton and bring at par with the internationally accepted standards for improving the competitiveness of Pakistan’s raw cotton as well as ensuring better returns to cotton growers, ginners, spinners exporters and the national economy.

For the above purposes the government sought assistance from UNDP/FAO for setting up a cotton standardization system. The project till its completion managed to lay down foundation for the standardization of Pakistan’s cotton. Being convinced with the project achievement the government decided to expand the standardization system to the entire cotton belt and approached the UNDP/FAO and Asian Development Bank to seek & fresh assistance for establishment of permanent body for the purpose.  An agreement was signed between the Government of Pakistan and the United Nation Development Programme in September, 1987. Accordingly, Pakistan Cotton Standards Institute (PCSI) Project was initiated to achieve the following objectives.

1. Establishing and promoting cotton standardization program based upon internationally accepted grading and classification system.
2. Setting up grades and standards of seed cotton and lint.
3. Train new generation of cotton graders, classers, arbitrators and instructors.

Government of Pakistan promulgated Cotton Standardization Ordinance 1994 and the same was re-promulgated time and again till 1997. The Cotton Standardization Ordinance 2002 was promulgated on 04-10-2002 to promote quality control of cotton in the country. Pakistan Cotton Standards Institute is working as a corporate body under the administrative control of Ministry of Commerce and Textile (Textile Division), Government of Pakistan.

Organizational Setup:

Pakistan Cotton Standards Institute (PCSI) is a body corporate under the administrative control of Ministry of Commerce & Textile(Textile Division), Government of Pakistan, governed by the Board of Directors. PCSI is working with the following offices and Cotton Fiber Testing Laboratories in Sindh and Punjab;

• Head Office, Karachi
  • Cotton Fiber Testing Laboratory, Karachi.
• Regional Office, Sukkur (Sindh)
  • Cotton Fiber Testing Laboratory, Mirpurkhas.
  • Cotton Fiber Testing Laboratory, Sanghar.
• Regional Office, Multan (Punjab)
  • Cotton Fiber Testing Laboratory, Rahimyar Khan.
  • Cotton Fiber Testing Laboratory, Bahawalpur.
  • Cotton Fiber Testing Laboratory, Multan.
  • Cotton Fiber Testing Laboratory, Vehari.
  • Cotton Fiber Testing Laboratory, D.G. Khan.
  • Cotton Fiber Testing Laboratory, Faislabad.
  • Cotton Fiber Testing Laboratory, Sahiwal.

Aim & Objectives:

Vision:

1. Enhancement of Pak cotton quality through cotton standardization program.
2. To bring Pak cotton at par with international standards.
3. To ensure real intrinsic value of Pak cotton and its made-ups from the international market.

Mission:

1. Education/ Awareness Campaigns.
2. Human Resource Development.
3. Proper picking and handling procedures.
4. Improved ginning practices.
5. Minimizing contamination.
6. Incentive Based Marketing System.

Functions of the Institute:

1. to introduce standardization of cotton;
2. to establish cotton standards and recommend measures to provincial governments  for  producing contamination-free cotton;
3. to devise quality control measures for export and domestic use of cotton and the handling procedures for contamination-free cotton in ginning factories;
4. to conduct grading of seed cotton and classification of lint cotton through its Classers or the approved private inspection companies;
5. to pre-qualify the private inspection companies for certifying the quality of cotton;
6. to conduct training and examination in  cotton grading and cotton classing for  growers,  ginners, spinners, exporters and other  persons of public and private sectors and  awarding  the certificate;
7. to develop arbitration procedures to settle disputes relating to classification, grading and contamination amongst sellers and buyers of seed cotton and lint cotton;
8. to liaison with the national and international cotton related institutions; and;
9. to lay down the policy and program and its implementation for training in arbitrating cotton classification and cotton fibre testing.

Achievements:

During the past few years, PCSI has been able to realize significant achievement, some of which are listed below;

1. The standards and grades for lint and seed cotton developed by PCSI were approved by the Government in November 1990 and declared to be the official standards for Pakistan
2. The official standards for lint cotton were recognized by the Liverpool Cotton Association in July 1991, for conducting arbitration of Pakistan cotton on the basis of these standards.
3. The new system of grades and standards was successfully implemented in number of ginneries in collaboration with CEC and TCP.
4. Official standards were also sent to Bremen Cotton Exchange, Germany and Cotton Association, Italy. These have also been provided to KCA, CEC, APTMA, PCGA etc.
5. PCSI has also succeeded in designing the Color Chart for Pakistan Cotton. With the designing of this chart Pakistan is now able to instrumentally evaluate its raw cotton on High Volume Instruments (HVIs) according to its own officially approved standards.
6. 180 Cotton Classers have been trained so far, while 19 female fibre testing technicians have been trained in different concepts and operations of fibre testing instruments.
7. First International Conference on Pakistan Cotton Standards was held at Karachi in October, 1994
8. Due to the implementation of the cotton standardization system and segregation of some better cotton types in selected ginneries, the Pakistan cottons was quoted in Cotlook price Index ‘A’ whereas previously these were being quoted only under Cotlook Price Index ‘B’ which has a price difference of three to five cents per pound between the two indices.
9. PCSI has provided and provides its officials/classers services and expertise, to different organization especially Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) and cotton end-user time to time when needed. Every year KCA organizes a Cotton Selectors Course in collaboration with PCSI.
10. PCSI has also imparted training to over 2647 cotton selectors belonging to the different segments of cotton trade.
11. On the plea of PCSI and foreseeing the future prospective, the Karachi Cotton Association switched over from its traditional Variety based marketing system to the most scientifically derived marketing system based upon premium/discount on the basis of PCSI Official Grades. This switching over could be termed as a great achievement in the right direction considering the global marketing trend.
12. PCSI has established ten cotton fibre testing laboratories equipped with High Volume Instruments (HVIs) 1000 Classing, USTER, Switzerland and Shierly Analyzer machines MK-II Atlas, UK at Multan, Vehari, Rahim Yar Khan, Sahiwal, Faisalabad, D.G. Khan, Bahawalpur (Punjab) & Karachi, Mirpurkhas and Sanghar (Sindh).