ABSTRACT
Cotton has been grown and made into cloth in South Asia for several thousand years. Over this long period hardy indigenous strains of the plant evolved. Skilled handloom weavers developed comfortable cloths and attractive designs that became popular in Europe prior to the industrial revolution. Exports of cotton fabrics and yarns must be assessed against the backdrop of the general slowdown in the sector’s growth during the 1970s. That slowdown was largely due to the aging of the capital stock as the industry matured, to sluggish internal and external market conditions, increasing international competition, and, of course, to the policies of the President Z. A. Bhutto government. In contrast to its rapid rise in the 1960s, production in the large-scale cotton mill sector stagnated and even declined in the 1970s. The industry’s major products are cotton yarn and cotton cloth. The output of cotton yarn finds its way into three different flows.
