Cotton market rules steady

After remaining quiet for the past three days or so, the domestic cotton market has become steady again. Even though the volume of business was on the low side, some business was said to have transpired on Thursday on the ready market.
Sowing for the new crop (August 2018/July 2019) was reported to have started in Sindh but planting is presently being done on a low scale due to shortage of water. In the Punjab, planting of cotton will start from the beginning of April 2018.
The seed cotton (Kapas/Phutti) prices in Sindh were said to have ranged from Rs 2800 to Rs 3100 per 40 Kgs in both Sindh and Punjab on Thursday, according to quality.
Lint prices in Sindh are said to have ranged from Rs 6300 to Rs 8000 per maund (37.32 Kgs) on Thursday, according to the quality. In the Punjab, the ginned cotton prices reportedly ranged from Rs 6500 to Rs 7800 per maund, according to quality.
The leftover size of the current crop (2017/2018) is said to be about 500,000 bales (155 Kgs) from a total of about 11.6 million bales (155 Kgs). From the leftover of about 500,000 bales of cotton which remain unsold with the ginners, about 100,000 bales of cotton are likely to be a good grade, but the remaining 400,000 bales of cotton are likely to be lower grades.
There is no panic in the market as most mills have earlier covered cotton through imports. Some spinners have reportedly gone to Shanghai where they are attending the Yarn Exposition which is being held from the 14th to the 16th of March, 2018. Karachi traders informed in the evening that cotton prices are presently steady in India and China.
On the global and economic and financial fronts several issues have cropped up recently, in addition to some existing problems, which have rattled the global economic order in no uncertain terms. Last week, president Trump signed an order initiating a plan for imposing 25 percent tariff on import of steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminium into the United States. However, he added that some exception would be made to this levy. Trump deems it necessary to impose these tariffs to buffer the national security of America. However, Canada and Mexico would be exempted from this import tax.
No doubt president Trump wants to save jobs in the American Steel and Aluminium industries which are being badly affected, but some economists and political leaders fear that decades of smooth global trade and peaceful political understanding are likely to be disturbed seriously.
As a consequence, ill-will between Europe and China on one hand, and America on the other, rose sharply and since then the talk of global trade wars has intensified as result of these developments. The major Wall Street indices dropped on last Wednesday as president Trump proposed to clamp tariffs of about Dollars Sixty billions on Chinese imports in addition to seeking a reduction in China's trade surplus with America by about Dollars one hundred billions.
In their retort, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman is reported to have said that China would protect its legitimate interests. On its part, the European Union is also upset on this development and condemned America in no uncertain terms. As the trade war intensifies, the European Union has dubbed the Americans as trade "bullies". On its part, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Maelstrom said import tariffs application is being used to threaten us but "we will not be intimidated".
It is not only the European Union or China, the move of America to impose heavy tariffs on steel and aluminium has given rise to global indignation where other countries have indicated to respond similarly by imposing heavy tariffs on American imports. Reports from New Delhi also indicate that India's plan to become a major steel exporter globally will receive a setback.
Besides the latest development of global tax wars being initiated by America, the tough problems pestering the United Kingdom's Brexit issue are long-drawn and serious. Indeed the European Union has advised Great Britain to face the hard realities of Brexit.
Last not least, global equity indices fell sharply last Tuesday after the news that president Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Thus several issues have cropped up which could possibly put the global trade and peace in jeopardy.