The market fluctuated within a narrow range during the week and settled 64.51 c/lb, down 85 points. 

US/China trade dispute news has been typically of a conflicting nature. At the Nato summit in UK on Tuesday, President Trump suggested that he could wait until after the US elections next year before making a deal; however this position softened during the rest of the week as both parties suggested that a deal was close. Meanwhile on the domestic front, the US President faces increased pressure on the impeachment issue which will now go before the Senate. 

Demand has been fairly subdued this week with only retail enquiries from traditional markets. In Bangladesh, mills are focused on Indian offers at around 72.00 c/lb for Shankar 6. Pakistan continues to buy against their statistical shortfall and further Chinese enquiries have been evident in the second half of the week. 

In India the CCI have been far more aggressive of late, averaging 60k bales bought per day over the last week. Predictions that the CCI will buy between 5 to 10 million bales remain, which should be supportive to the market. Crop wise however, we maintain production to be around 37 to 39 million bales. 

There are no major surprises expected in the WASDE Report, to be issued on Tuesday, however further reductions to the US output is a possibility on account of the lower yields in Texas. The Pakistan crop also continues to experience problems with only 8.5 million bales forecast and qualities and staple really dropping off. 

The market remains settled in a trading range of 64 to 66 c/lb on March and for now there is little news to suggest it would break out of this cycle.