The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-12-08 00:00:00

THE COTTON MARKET.

Our position as journalists in a port, of which cotton is
a staple article, renders it imperative upon us to offer a
few remarks upon the present excited state of the market
for that commodity. For some weeks past the holders
have been calculating very sanguinely upon a short crop.
the almost universal conclusion having been that it would
not exceed, at the utmost, 2.000,000 bales. The depressed
state of the Manchester market, however; the closing
against us, or the unsettled state, of several of our foreign
markets,—for instance, Mexico, the River Hate, the
Cape. and Portugal,—coupled with the discouraging ac-
counts from India and China ;—repressed speculation, and
even kept back spinners from laying in their usual stocks.
At the same time, the stock in the country was so un-
usually low as, under ordinary circumstances, even with-
out the additional feature of an anticipated short crop, to
warrant a much more excited feeling than was evinced up
to last week. Last year, the stock in Great Britain, up
to the 28th November, was 915,000 bales, against 474,710
up to the same period this year; and for some years past
we have been accustomed to have at this period from
600,000 to 1,000,000 bales in merchants' hands; but the
position of the manufacturers, previously to the arrival of
the steamer of the 16th, would have been sufficient to
keep prices in statu quo, had the stock in the country
been even less than its present amount.
Since Wednesday, however, our trade in this staple
has been greatly stimu:ated, and a very heavy business
done at advanced rates, the spinners, low in stock, rushing
into the market, and being met in advance by the specu-
lators, who had taken advantage of the confirmation of
the probable short crop, and of somewhat better accounts
brought by the East India mail. In such a position of
parties—the consumers bare, and the stock principally in
the hands of capitalists,—the manufacturer has naturally
had the worst of it. Our best-informed brokers, however,
ale not satisfied as to the prudence and fairness of the
strong upward movement, and deprecate extreme haste
in buying on the part of the spinners. The stock of
goods in manufacturers' hands is already heavy ; and if
their only resort—the working of short time—is com-
pelled to be adopted, the holders of, and speculators in,
the raw material, may perhaps be brought to sell on more
reasonable terms. Besides, we have before had rumours
of short crops, which have turned out not quite so short
as anticipated. Under all existing circumstances, and
with the prospect which exists of early and late supplies,
we see no cause for the unusual display of speculation
which just now characterizes our transactions.
The market yesterday opened with a good demand
from the trade, who were in attendance in unusually large
numbers, evincing considerable anxiety to get in at last
week's prices. Speculators—ever on the alert—seeing
this, commenced operations, and ran a neck-and-neck
race for cotton, giving id. to Id. advance on the prices of
Friday last. In this way fully 30,000 bales were sold,
one half to speculators, and the remainder to the trade;
and, even at the advance, holders are rather reluctant
than otherwise to show their stocks, so thoroughly san-
guine are they that higher rates will prevail before long.