On Thursday, the seed cotton (Kapas/Phutti) prices from Sindh are said to have ranged from Rs 2900 to Rs 3600 per 40 Kgs, while in the Punjab they reportedly ranged from Rs 2900 to Rs 3650 per 40 Kgs, according to the quality. Lint prices in Sindh were said to have ranged from Rs 6500 to Rs 8000 per maund (37.32 Kgs), according to the quality. In the Punjab, the lint prices reportedly also ranged from Rs 6500 to Rs 8000 per maund on Thursday. Thus lint prices have risen by about Rs 500 per maund (37.32 Kgs) within a week. The prices of yarns remained steady but the volume of business has reportedly declined.
Brokers said in Karachi that cotton from India has started arriving into Pakistan from the first of January, 2018. Heimtextil exhibition of textile products is being held in Germany from the 9th to the 12th of January, 2018 where in Pakistani millers are expected to attend as now Pakistan mills are supposed to have become competitive with India.
On the ready cotton market on Thursday, 400 bales of cotton from Moongi Bangla in Punjab are said to have been sold at Rs 6600 per maund (37.32 Kgs), 4000 bales from Mianwali sold at Rs 6800 per maund, then 1000 bales from Rahimyar Khan and 1600 bales from Kot Sabzal both sold at Rs 8000 per maund, while 1011 bales from Mohammadpur Dewan were said to have been sold at Rs 8050 per maund in a steady and stable market.
On the global economic and financial front, it is now quite apparent that the economic condition in most parts of the world made remarkable recovery during 2017. Indeed the year 2017 appears to have been significant because it is widely believed that after the Great Recession 2007/2008, we eventually did make definite economic recovery so that we have finally come out from the disastrous clutches of the Great Global Recession which we suffered for the better part of a decade. In fact, the global economic recovery during the better part of the outgoing year 2017, it presently appears to be attaining a continuing success since the very beginning of the current year 2018 promising further and continuing progress. The very first few days of the current calendar year (2018) have propelled the equity prices to new records on the stock markets.
It is presently also remarkable that the global record-breaking equity values are not only obtaining in the United States or the European Union, but they are spread widely in many if not most markets around the world including Japan, Latin America and several of the Middle East markets where economic growth has picked up positively. For instance, exports in South Korea are reported to have risen for the fourteenth month pushing up its shipments during 2017 to the highest level on record in value terms. The share prices in Hong Kong climbed to a ten year high level mainly due to China's stronger than expected factory activity. Stocks in China also rallied following a survey showing better than expected manufacturing activity during December 2017.
In Germany, there was a record high rise in its workforce not seen during the previous ten years. The workforce in Germany was reported by Reuters from Berlin to have risen by 638,000 during the previous year showing the intrinsic strength of the labour market "that has helped consumption overtake exports as the main driver by growth in Europe's largest economy". In the eurozone, it has been reported that growth in factories moved ahead at the fastest rate in two decades. In Asia, India reportedly paced ahead during 2017 albeit at a comparatively moderate pace. In another Reuter report from London it was stated that emerging stocks surged past one percent early this week to their highest pace in five and a half years.
While the major Gulf markets were up at midweek, the eurozone shares posted a further rebound. The stocks prices in the Philippines and Thailand also posted record closing prices on last Wednesday. Regarding the commodity prices in general, early this week they recorded their longest winning streak while bridging their high price levels from 2017 to 2018. While everything has been hunky-dory till now, several investors and analysts are questioning whether these glorious times will last?