Cotton is Pakistan’s economic lifeline and ginning is the first and the most crucial stage in its value chain. Ginning’s basic purpose is to convert field-cotton in salable form to the textile sector, so it acts as a bridge between the producers and the users.

In past, ginners’ sole purpose was to separate fiber from cotton seed, but today’s ginners must do a lot extra to get value for their product. They must dry and clean the cotton, separate fiber without any damage, clean fiber from trashes, contamination and high moisture and put fiber in acceptable packing.

Cotton flower consists of 37% spin cotton and 63% cotton seed plus linter. Currently, cotton seed is inefficiently pressed for low-yield oil extraction (8% – 10 %) and the by product – cotton cake (khaali) is used as animal feed which also includes fine fiber – linter not suitable for animal consumption.

Cotton being the prime crop of Pakistan makes the textile industry the most significant industry of the country. The spinning industry being the sole consumer of cotton worth US$3.5 billion, becoming the largest cash crop of Pakistan. The textile industry contributes more than 60% of the export earnings of the country.