Thrakika Ekkokistiria S.A. released the HECOT Weekly report Dec 8, 2006. The Things are on a silent mood lately in our market. It is not only the low production but also the fact that the eur/dollar rate keeps going higher, affecting the ginners' cost.
Apart from some small business to Turkish mills of areas close to the Greek borders, we hardly heard of any new sale. Lately there is some activity in the domestic market, where few spinners appear to be buyers of good qualities at the levels of 1 EUR / KGS delivered mill.
Harvest has been completed, apart from some exceptions (Levadia area), and most of our sources are estimating a raw cotton production of about 300,000 tons. Out of this volume we believe that about 120-130,000 tons are the available quantities for sale. In terms of quality this year's crop is about 70-75 % HVI 51 color grade, with the Levadia area being most affected.
Very critical issue is the strike at the Piraeus port for a fourth week in a row. More than 6,000 containers are stuck in the port. The dockers' strike against working overtime hours in reaction to the government's plans to privatize some port services.
In the beginning of next week some new meetings within the dockers and the management will be held and provided the dockers will get guaranties of not losing the existing benefits under the privatization scheme, the strike will end.
Price wise, the ginner's asking prices (about 58-60 c/lb FOT) seem not reachable at the moment. Also since the available quantity is small, ginners will not easily lower their prices.
That's why we believe that for the time being it is unlikely that the market will see some action and probably ginners will wait until after the holidays before readjusting their price levels.
Thrakika Ekkokistiria S.A.
marketing@alchempro.com
