Traders have added that new crop (2017/2018) prices in both Sindh and Punjab are being quoted at Rs 7000 per maund (37.32 Kgs) for delivery from 10 to 15 June 2017. One sale of 200 bales of new crop from Burewala in Punjab was recently reported at Rs 7000 per maund for delivery between June 10 to 15, 2017.
Cotton sales in the ready market remain slack even though only about 75,000 bales of cotton remain with the ginner presently. Even the textile products like yarn remain slack and uptake is slow. Thus several domestic mills are reported to be not faring well. New crop cotton (August 2017/July 2018) is presently being projected between 12 and 12.5 million bales (155 Kgs) on an ex-gin basis. The prices for the outgoing crop of cotton reportedly ranges from Rs 6500 to Rs 7000 per maund (37.32 Kgs), according to the quality. One lot of new crop cotton said to have been pressed in Sindh is said to being offered at Rs 7000 per maund.
Cotton prices are said to be steady in China but in India cotton prices are facing some pressure due to good prospects of output following ample rains in coming season (2017/2018). It has been reported that India has planted 7 to 10 percent more cotton than last year. Pakistan is likely to grow more cotton during 2017/2018 due to 13 percent more planting.
Upto now, three lots of new crop cotton (2017/2018) have been pressed by the ginners and four ginning factories have been activated in Sindh. However, offtake is slow due to the dull and slack conditions being reported from the domestic textile industry. Government has announced Eid-ul-Fitar holidays from 26th to the 28th of June 2017 inclusive which will result in closure of business for several days during the end of this month. According to data obtained from Pakistan Customs, Pakistan has imported 354,282 metric tons of cotton from August 2016 to April 2017 during the current season.
Cotton seed (Binola/Kakra) in Sindh has sold at Rs 1650 per maund. New crop Seed cotton (Kapas/Phutti) in lower Sindh is selling from Rs 3400 to Rs 3500 per 40 Kilogramme. Also, 200 bales of new crop cotton (2017/2018) from Shahdadpur in Sindh reportedly sold at Rs 7000 per maund.
On the global economic and financial front, despite the Brexit decision by the United Kingdom, the pronounced radical decisions being taken by president Donald Trump such as pulling out of the climate change agreement, and more recently the continuation, indeed growing level of violence being conducted by suicide bombers around the world since the beginning of this year (2017), the equity markets appear to be taking these negative occurrences without any ostensible dread or fear.
Great Britain continues to make preparations for a pullout from European Union without any hesitation. President Trump has dumped the idea of worrying about the global climate change since he deems it necessary to protect the livelihood of the American workers and believes that the proposition to battle the ill effects of climate change is a hoax.
President Trump is worried about the fewer jobs reported to have been added to the American economy. That belief would leave the European Union and China to forge an alliance to tackle what they believe are the ongoing deleterious effects on the climate of our world which is leading our world towards a calamity. President Trump, however, believes that the necessity to work on climate change is just a hoax. U.S firms, however, have criticized Trump's stance on Climate change while China, India and the European Union remain committed to the existing Climate Change Agreement. The Germans believe that Trump has weakened the West and Chancellor Angela Merkel has advised that Europe should take its destiny in its own hands.
Further to the earlier attacks carried out by the suicide bombers on the audience coming out after attending a music show in the Manchester Arena at the end of last month, three attackers were reported to have rammed a van into pedestrians on London Bridge killing seven and also stabbed several people standing nearby.
Kabul was then targeted by the killers when they thrust a massive truck bomb reportedly killing ninety people and wounding hundreds of others when they targeted diplomatic quarters of the city for this massacre. The killing spree by suicide bombers and their cohorts then targeted the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatullah Khomeini in Tehran killing at least 12 people and wounded nearly 42 people on Wednesday.
Despite these calamities, creeping isolationism in many countries around the world and increasing radicalism, it appears that business and economic activity is continuing as usual. It is now amply clear that we must find the root cause of these attacks and handle them accordingly. Be it income inequality or ethnic rivalry, the issue must be sorted out expeditiously.