In a major development, Pakistan has decided to resume import of cotton and cotton yarn from India. The issue was taken up by Pakistan's Economic Coordination Council (ECC). Sources said that this could once again kickstart trade between the two countries.

A low yield of cotton bales in Pakistan has hit the country’s exporters. According to an article published in the Express Tribune, Pakistan’s cotton production has dropped 34 per cent. “The governments’ continuous negligence towards the major cash crop for several years and climate change has heavily affected the domestic economy. The situation led the textile sector (yarn manufacturers) to import cotton worth around $2 billion in this fiscal year,” it said.

While they had been pressing the Imran Khan government to allow import of cotton from India, sources said that other key raw materials such as chemicals and plastic could also be shipped to the south Asian country.

At a later stage, Pakistan may even start imports of cement and steel, they said.

Since the Pulwama attack, relations between the two countries nosedived and all trade activities had come to a halt after India decided to revoke Article 370 which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

According to data, in 2018-19, Pakistan’s exports to India was just 2 per cent of its total exports. Similarly, only 3 per cent of its overall imports were sourced from India.

India’s imports and exports in relation to Pakistan was less than a per cent.

Though trade between the countries has always remained “limited”, resumption of the same does have an overall bearing for several industries especially when Islamabad’s battered economic condition, especially since informal trade has always existed between the two countries.