Pakistan has suspended cotton imports from its top supplier, India, saying shipments failed to fulfil phyto-sanitary certification, threatening the $822 million-a-year trade, government and industry officials told Reuters. 

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Traders say rising hostility between the neighbours might have prompted Pakistan to restrict imports. The decision will help other cotton suppliers such as Brazil and the United States to increase exports to Pakistan.

"We had received some complaints regarding insects, pests, in cotton consignments imported from India, so we have sent samples for tests," Imran Shami, director general of Pakistan’s Plant Protection Department (DPP), told Reuters on Wednesday.

Pakistan had put on hold cotton consignments from India, he said, adding that if tests confirmed the presence of pests, "these consignments will go back or would have to be destroyed", he said.

In 2015/16, Pakistan surpassed Bangladesh to become India's biggest cotton buyer, accounting for 40 percent of exports.