The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-03-06
CHI A r L E S T ON +.
FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 6. 1868.
The Price of Cotton,
December term,

The reactlOnary uP""ru W
cotton in Liverpool which began on We'd
nesday is not the. result Of speculation but
may fairly be traced to rapid increase IN
the demand for consumption with an ex-
pected decrease in the total supply
For the year 1867 1853 the crop of Amer
ican cotton is estimated at from two million
two hundred and twenty-five thousand 10
two million five hundred thousand bales,
the latter being the estimate of the "bears"
in the market. If the crop be taken at
two million five hundred thousand bales,
an outside estimate, there are still about
nine hundred thousand bales to 60 forward
to market, but it is open to proof that, IN
connection with other controlling influences,
this supply will not satisfy the legitimate
demands of trade.
The great enemy with which American
cotton has had to contend is India, and there
was no profitable future for American cotton
while the quotations were such as to cause
feverish activity in Indian expectations
and lead TO o sale of that cotton which,
when rates are low in Liverpool, is con-
sumed in China or India itself With Up
lands at I'D. in Liverpool, India can vir-
tuaily swamp the market, but at I'd. or lOd.
no unusual expectation of Indian cotton
need be expected. Up to February s, 1868,
there had been received in Liverpool forty
five thousand bales of East Indian cotton
against forty-four thousand bales for the
same period last year, while the receipts Of
Egyptian were but twenty-nine thousand
against fifty six thousand last year. On the
same day there was at sea, bound to Great
Britain, one hundred and three thousand
five hundred bales Of Eastern cotton,
against one hundred and thirty thousand
three hundred in 1867, and four hundred
and fifty-three thousand in 1856.
These figures show the immense decline
in the export of Indian cotton-a decline
which does not express diminution in the
crop as much as the fact that excessive ex-
portations will only take place when Liver
pool prices are such as to leave wide mar
gin of profit. 1t may therefore be assumed
that within Id. at least there is no danger
of rush of Indian cotton to the British
markets. At present the surplus of Indian
cotton is being manufactured in India and
China, and it will not be shipped to Europe
at the present market rates.
The stock of American cotton at this
time is not more than one-half Of what it
was at the corresponding time last year,
and the combination of influences to which
we have referred leads to the singular cir
cumstance that the price of cotton to
arrive" OF Liverpool is higher than that of
cotton son the spot"
A speculator buying cotton 'qo arrive"
has many advantages, and can make his
loss or profit to certainty without the
transfer of the capital cost of the staple.
1t is making time bargains in cotton, and this
has become favorite practice among cot
ton men in the British markets. But now
the consumer has stepped beyond the specu-
lator, who cannot we'll afford to pay as high
a rate for future as for immediate delivery.
The actual consumers are in the market and
by their purchases have not only run up
rates to higher than the rates for immedi-
ate delivery, but have proved their business
confidence in the further advance of cotton.
After careful review of the whole mar
ket and the circumstances which affect it,
it is our opinion that no unusual exporta-
ton of Indian cotton should be expected
while rates in Liverpool rule ut not exceed
ing 1ld.,-that the small stock on hand of
American cotton will not meet the demands
of healthy trade,-that the present prices
are caused by the excess of demands for
consumption over the present and rrOspec-
tive supply,-that cotton will have no per-
manent decline, but may be expected to
make and hold further advance.