Fears are being expressed in trading circles that the new cotton crop (August 2018/July 2019) may be delayed by three to four weeks due to continuing delay in the availability of irrigation water. Thus it is now presumed that the new crop (August 2018/July 2019) in Sindh may now start arriving sometime around the middle of July 2018, and the Punjab seed cotton sometime around the 15th of August 2018 when the ginning factories are likely to start pressing cotton.
The prices of domestic cotton remained mostly steady and stable. About ten trucks of seed cotton or nearly 300 maunds (37.32 Kgs) of new crop (2018/2019) from Shahdadpur in Sindh were said to have been sold at Rs 3620 per 40 Kgs for delivery from 15 to 25 June 2018.
The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) released its final seed cotton (Kapas/Phutti) arrivals report on the 3rd of May 2018, for the current season (2017/2018) as on 1st of May 2018. The data showed that the total arrivals were 11,581,934 bales (155 Kgs) from which the domestic mills have lifted 3,974,403 bales. Shippers have picked up 190,765 bales where as nearly 279,894 bales remain unsold with the ginners.
The price of lint cotton in Sindh was reported to have ranged from Rs 6200 to Rs 7800 per maund (37.32 Kgs) on an ex-gin basis, while in the Punjab the pressed cotton prices are said to have ranged from Rs 6400 to Rs 7800 per maund, according to the quality.
Business in cotton was said to be slow though lint prices were said to have been steady to stable as the supply of the new cotton crop (2018/2019) has been delayed.
Several of the textile mills appear to be running normally as traders described yarn prices to be remunerative. It appears that the average performance of the textile mills is not too bad at this juncture, while the better mills are said to be performing well. The decrease in the value of the Pakistani rupee against the American Dollar has put the rupee between Rs 118 to Rs 119 against the greenback as of now which has helped in the exports of Pakistani textile goods.
On the global economic and financial front, it is now the beginning of the second year since the Great Recession of December 2007 to June 2009, which originated with the bursting of an eight trillion dollar housing bubble, is seen to have hopefully receded. However, some serious problems have arisen with the ascendency of President Donald Trump in America at the beginning of 2018.
Some of the key problems which have arisen due to the redrafting of major issues which had hitherto been deemed as settled and which were mostly benefiting the world at large include the climate change, the denting of the established globalization of trade issues, immigration and the "America First" slogan of the American presidency. However, we appear lucky that despite these and some other issues, till now the global economic recovery starting from early 2017 is maintaining its essential pace.
In this regard, the President of the Asian Development Bank, Takehiko Nakao has stated in no uncertain terms that most countries have undoubtedly benefited from the policy of open trade and investment and its appears that to continue to maintain these gains we should leave no stone unturned to fortify this system. In fact, we should make our "utmost effort" to strengthen the system of globalisation without fail. A free global trade system is a sine qua non for universal progress around the world.
The next serious issue facing the world is the need to continue to adhere to the Paris Agreement signed by 179 countries to keep global temperature increase well below two degrees Celsius, and if possible below 1.5 degree Celsius. However, President Donald Trump has decided to pull America out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement which is programmed and destined to save millions of lives around the world from sickness and premature death. Unhealthy people growing around the world due to a polluted world and consequently early deaths should be controlled to save us from what has been called by the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation "The insatiable greed of humanity which is seriously damaging our precious Mother Earth". For saving the world from the utter calamity of pollution, a cleaner and a low carbon technology needs to be developed and enforced to save humanity from an impending disaster.
Like almost all other countries in the world, the Eurozone is also watching the U.S.-China engagement to sort out their serious differences which are shadowing the general growth in the areas. Though the Eurozone Economy slowed during the first quarter of the current calendar year (2018) to 0.4 percent from January to March, 2018 compared with 0.7 percent, the Eurozone still performed better than the economy of the United Kingdom which only grew by 0.1 percent in the same quarter. Last not least, the Brexit conundrum remains elusive and thus adds to the U.S.-China economic rift which is rattling the world seriously.
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