| World News
China may review cotton import norms China, the top cotton buyer, should implement a new set of quality criteria this year that will raise the bar on domestic and imported cotton to improve its textiles. China has been working on rolling out two new tests to determine cotton quality-short fibre content and the number of "neps", or little knobs found in cotton fibres that hamper spinning and dyeing. "It is possible that it will be implemented this year," an official at the fibre inspection department of the State General Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine said. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 17th January
2002 Crop fall in China China will harvest less wheat in '03 for a fourth straight year, as recent dry spells in major growing regions depress the key winter crop, analysis said on Tuesday. The smaller acreage will also lower the country's wheat output next year to 86.4m tonnes, down 1.6% from 87.8m tonnes this year , said an analyst at a state-owned grains think tank. But the smaller crop is unlikely to boost imports despite the issuance of more low-duty quotas. China has enormous grain stocks that turned the country from a net importer into a net exporter in the second half of 02, analysts said. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 25th December
2002 Rice prices steady as Nigeria hikes duty Asian rice prices held steady this week as Nigeria was said to have increased its import duty on rice to 110% from 100%. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 29th November
2002 Thailand Okays $80m rubber fund Thailand, the world’s top rubber producer, will soon launch a 3.4bn baht ($80.2m) scheme to guarantee farmers at least 30 baht/kg for unsmoked rubber sheet, official said. The project got the nod at a weekly cabinet meeting, involves a 430 million baht fund to build 146 rubber processing factories and 3.0 bn baht of soft loans from the state-run agriculture bank for the plants’ working capital, official said. “The scheme aims to stabilize rubber price sold by farmers above 30 baht a kilo”, agriculture minister Sora at Klimpratoom said. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 18th November
2002 US approves resolution for coffee aid The US House of Representatives urged President George W Bush to adopt a “global strategy” to alleviate a deepening crisis hitting coffee-producing nations, whose prices have plunged to record lows in recent years. News of the non-binding resolution became public at a coffee gathering in the Colombian Caribbean City of Cartagena and was later confirmed by US lawmakers. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 18th November
2002 Iraq troubles Australia’s wheat exports Australia said the likelihood of military action in Iraq will threaten short-term wheat trade and that normal commerce would only come when the question of weapons in Iraq was settled. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 18th November
2002 China wheat stock estimate raised Estimates of China's wheat stocks were more than tripled by the US Department of Agriculture on Tuesday, as the agency recalculated figures over the past decade assuming lower domestic consumption. USDA said China’s end stocks for wheat in ‘02-03 are now projected to be 61.9m tonnes, up from the earlier 19.3m tonnes. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 13th November
2002 Low Philippines copra output to hit exports The tight copra supply in the Philippines, which led to lower coconut oil exports in October, is expected to worsen in coming months, traders said. Preliminary data from the United Coconut Association of the Philippines released last week said Philippine coconut oil exports fell in October to 87,200 tonnes, compared with 105,444 tonnes shipped in October last year. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 5th November
2002 Asian rice output set to shrink: FAO Global rice exports are expected to reach record level this year, but Asia's harvest is likely to drop by nearly 1.5% due to shortfalls in India, the UN's food and agriculture organization said. World rice exports are projected to reach nearly 26m tonnes in ’02 in response to rising consumption, the agency said in its latest report on the global rice market. But Asia's annual output may fall to 535m tonnes this year from 543m tonnes last year due to an anticipated decline on nearly 10m tonnes in India's harvest because of “a prolonged erratic monsoon,” according to the FAO's rice market monitor. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 1st November
2002 World cocoa prices to stay high Cocoa prices all over the world are seen staying high, at between $1,900 to $2,000 a tonne next year, aided by concern over stability in top producer Ivory Coast, the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) said. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 28th October
2002 US eyes Indian market for cotton With the domestic market for cotton saturating in the US, the country is eyeing other markets like India to accelerate its exports. With this end and to increase India's cotton consumption, US-based Cotton Council International and Cotton Incorporated on Friday tied up with three Indian textile mills to introduce their quality certification ‘seal of cotton’. The seal is a trademarked quality certification given to selective mills for their 100% cotton products provided they meet the quality parameters, senior vice-president of Cotton Incorporated Dean B Turner said. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 26th October
2002 Indonesia cocoa bean prices down Indonesia’s cocoa bean prices eased Thursday after hitting a record high a day earlier, but traders expect a rebound soon on the back of an uprising in top producer Ivory Coast and a weakening rupiah. Fair average quality cocoa beans were quoted at 18,300 rupiah ($1.99) a kg in Makassar, down from 21,000 rupiah. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 21st October
2002 Brazil sugar at record high Brazilian sugar prices rose to record levels as millers chose to sit on stocks as world prices on Friday hit 13- month highs and the real currency weakend compared with a week ago. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 21st October
2002 Drought shock: US wheat stocks lowest in 30 years The drought shortened US corn crop is slightly larger than thought- 8.9bn bushels - but still the smallest will plunge to their lowest level in nearly 30 years, the government forecast on Friday. Farmers will harvest 2.7bn bushels of soyabeans, the smallest crop since ’99, the US Agriculture Department said in a monthly update of crop production and likely demand world-wide. The US cotton harvest was pegged at 18.1m bales weighing 480 lbs. each, down slightly from a September estimate due to drought in the Southeast. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 12th October
2002 Global coconut oil output to decline Global coconut oil output could fall 7.4% next year due to drought in main producing countries, raising prospects for better prices, an industry official said. Output may fall to 2.5m tonnes in ’03 from an estimated 2.7m tonnes this year because of the dry weather in the Philippines and Indonesia and also in smaller growers like India, said executive director of the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community. He said global demand was currently estimated at 2.7m tonnes, which meant the world would see a deficit of around 200,000 tonnes next year. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 10th October
2002 Global rice meet The world's top rice exporters are considering setting up a council for joint rice exporters, Thailand’s commerce minister Adisai Bodharamik told reporters. The matter will be discussed at a meeting among ministers in charge of rice issues from Thailand, Vietnam, China, India and Pakistan in Bangkok in October 9, he said. The meeting will aim to find a common strategy to stabilize global rice prices and create profitable prices for farmers. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 3rd September
2002 IGC cuts ‘02-03 wheat output forecast The International Grains Council (IGC) again cut its estimates for world grain production this year on further setbacks in drought-hit Australia and United States. For wheat, the IGC said it now forecast production of 565 million tonnes in 2002/03, down from August's estimate of 568 million and last year's 579 million. Courtesy: The Economic Times, September 30
2002 Indonesia to boost pepper consumption Indonesia, the world's third largest pepper producer, aims to boost domestic consumption to offset a slump in exports owing to flat global demand, a government trade official said. Courtesy: The Economic Times, September 30,
2002 World rice output to decline World's rice output will decline this year for the first time in a decade because China and India, the two top producers, are drawing down their stockpiles, a rice expert said in Beijing. This year's expected one per cent drop in global rice output, if sustained, could eventually cause prices to rise, a director at the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute, said. In ’01, the world produced about 600m metric tonnes of unmilled rice, or 400m tonnes of processed rice. (Courtesy: The Economic Times, September 20) Colombia's coffee output, exports go up Colombia, the world's third largest producer of coffee, harvested 751,000 60 -kg bags of coffee in August, up from 660,000 bags in the same month of ’01, a source at the National Federation of Coffee Growers said. Exports of washed arabica totaled 820,000 60-kg bags in August, up from 658,000 bags shipped in the same month last year. Exports are expected to reach 10m 60-kg bags. (Courtesy: The Economic Times, September 16) USDA raises end-stock forecast for Soya The improving US soybean crop, coupled with stronger production in Argentina, will help boost world ending stocks of soybeans for ‘02-03 to 25.35m tonnes, up from the 22.90m tonnes forecast last month, the US Department of Agriculture said. (Courtesy: The Economic Times, September 13) Australian wheat crop seen lower The US Agriculture Department revised downward its forecast of Australia's wheat production in ‘02-03 to 15m tonnes, a 5m tonne cut from last month's forecasts, but still more than official Australian projections as drought ravaged the country. Earlier this week, the Australian government put ‘02-03 wheat production at 13.45m tonnes, the smallest since ‘94-95. Exports, it said would total 13m tonnes. (Courtesy: The Economic Times, September 13) China sugar crop China's official China Sugar Association said the coming ‘02-03 harvest should produce about nine million tonnes of white sugar and domestic consumption is estimated at 8.8 to nine million tonnes. The coming harvest, which the association said was another bumper crop, was likely to equal China's largest since records have been kept. China produced a total of 8.5m tonnes of white sugar in the last ‘01-02 season (Oct-April), largely from sugarcane. (Courtesy: The Economic Times, September 4) Cotton Gold to extend quality seal to India The US-based Cotton Gold Alliance would soon be extending its ‘Seal of Cotton’ to the Indian markets. It is for the first time that the Alliance will have a tie-up outside the US. The Seal of Cotton will help identify and promote 100% cotton products. It will ensure a quality, said executive director of the US-based Cotton Council International. (Courtesy: The Economic Times, September 4) Drought puts rich Asian wheat market up for grabs Simultaneous drought in Australia, the US and Canada, major wheat suppliers to Asia- has made them cut exports and push up prices. This year Pakistan and India are taking over Australia, a trader in Hanoi told Reuters of Vietnam's wheat buying plans. This is just one small part of an unprecedented Asia-wide swing to import wheat, often for the first time, from countries such as France, Poland, Ukraine, Argentina, India and Pakistan. (Courtesy: The Economic Times, September, 2) |