Pakistan produces 5 percent of world's total cotton.
A woman spinning cotton yarn in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province
Cotton production in Pakistan is integral to the economic development of the country. The nation is largely dependent on the cotton industry and its related textile sector, and the crop has been given a principal status in the country. Cotton is grown as an industrial crop in 15% of the nation's land during the monsoon months of May to August, known as the kharif period, and is grown at a smaller scale between February and April. Record production of cotton was reported at 15 million bales of 470 pounds (210 kg) each in the form of phutti (seed cotton) during 2014–15, which was an 11% rise compared to the previous season (2013–14).[1] Production-wise, as of 2012–13, Pakistan occupied the fourth position among the cotton growers of the world, the first three being China, India and the United States, in that order.[2] In respect of exports of raw cotton, Pakistan holds third position, and is the fourth in consumption (about 30 and 40 per cent of its production). It is the largest exporter of cotton yarn
The earliest known historical traces of cotton were found at Mehrgarh near the city of Quetta, making Pakistan one of the first regions of cotton cultivation.[4] Cotton was discovered in threads on a copper bead at a burial site dated to the Neolithic period (6000 BC).[4] The mineralised threads were subject to metallurgical analysis with a combination of a reflected-light microscope and a scanning electron microscope, revealing that they were of cotton (genus Gossypium).[4][5] Cotton cultivation became more widespread during the Indus Valley Civilisation, which covered parts of present day eastern Pakistan and northwestern India.[6] Archaeobotanical evidence of seeds has been traced to 5000 BC in Mehrgarh, though it is not clear if they belonged to a wild or cultivated variety. Use of cotton cloth in the Indus Valley cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa dates to 2,500 BC. Cotton pollen has been recorded at Balakot.[7] At Harappa (Mature Harappan period 2500-2000 BC), evidence of cotton threads has been found tied to the handle of a mirror, an antiquity from a female burial site, and around a copper razor.[8][9] There is also much other evidence of cotton in some form, such as Malavaceae (flowering plant) pollen type, similar to Gossypium in Balakot (Mature Harappan period, 2500-2000 BC); as seeds at Banawali (Mature Harappan, 2200-1900 BC), Sanghol (Late Harappan, 1900-1400 BC), Kanmer, Kacchh (Late Harappan, 2,000-1,700 BC), Imlidhi Khurd and Gorakhpur (1300-800 BC); as fibres in Late Ochre-Coloured Pottery at Sringaverapura (1200-700 BC); and in Hallur as seeds and fragments of the Early Iron Age (950-900 BC)