Nilgiri Tea Output Up 20%

Coonoor: In the first quarter of calendar 2008, tea production in the Nilgiris, the largest growing district in the South, is up by 20 per cent over the five-year mean, according to the UPASI Tea Research Foundation.

The biggest increase occurred in March when the production rose by 20.5 per cent over March 2007.

Production in its members units between January and March rose to 3.61 million kg (mkg) from 2.77 mkg in the corresponding period last year. The five-year mean was 2.99 mkg.

In March, production rose to 1.57 mkg from 1.31 mkg. The five-year mean for the month was 1.25 mkg.

No Stock Limits For Imported Edible Oils

Chennai: The Union Government has clarified that the stock limit, being enforced under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 will not apply to imported edible oils.

In an order passed on April 7, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said the order to further amend the Removal of (Licensing requirements, Stock Limits and Movement Restrictions) on Specified Foodstuffs Order, 2002 would be kept in abeyance for commodities such as edible oils, oilseeds and rice for one year.

Declaration

It would also not apply for transport distribution or disposal of edible oils, oilseeds and rice to places outside the State and also to import of these commodities. However, importers may be directed by the Centre or States to declare receipt of stocks and quantity retained by them.

The order follows representation from the industry complaining harassment by particularly State Government officials. They had especially complained of harassment in Maharashtra.

Officials said the Maharashtra Government was told by the Centre not to harass importers in particular.

Diamonds Help Gem & Jewellery Exports Clock 22% Gain

Mumbai: Gem and jewellery exports increased 22 per cent to $21 billion ($17 billion) during the 2007-08 fiscal. In the rupee terms, they increased 9.02 per cent to Rs 84,200 crore (Rs 77,100 crore ).

Sanjay Kothari, Chairman, Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, said: “The industry managed a steady growth due to increase in diamond trading activities as manufacturing has shown a decline. The volatility in gold prices and international economic scenario has slowed down demand for gold jewellery world wide.”

GSP withdrawal

Gold jewellery exports declined 3.64 per cent to Rs 22,625 crore; however, in dollar terms it was up 8.07 per cent to $5.62 billion.

The withdrawal of GSP (general system of preference) benefits affected gold jewellery exports to the US.

Exports of cut and polished diamonds, which jumped 30 per cent to $14.2 billion, accounted for nearly 68 per cent of total export basket.

The industry has managed to exceed the target of $18 billion set by the Government despite an economic slowdown in the US which accounts for 50 per cent of world jewellery market.

China through Hong Kong has emerged as the largest importer of cut and polished diamonds from India with a share of 35 per cent of total exports, while the US and United Arab Emirates accounted for 24 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively. The share of Hong Kong and US in India’s overall gem and jewellery exports was at 26 per cent each, while United Arab Emirates accounted for 21 per cent.

Recession impact

Predicting that the US recession will have a major impact on exports next fiscal, Kothari, said over 1.50 lakh people have lost their jobs as many small jewellery makers have shut shop in Mumbai due to fall in demand in the international markets, constrains in raw material procurement, volatile gold prices and rupee appreciation.

“We are going to have a difficult year, even if efforts are made to target other markets, it’s not going to be that easy. It is going to take a huge effort and time for other countries to catch up,” he added

Total imports of gem and jewellery provisionally rose to $18.5 billion in the fiscal, growing 32.5 per cent from last year.

CCT Fear Brings Down Turnover Of Commexes

NEW DELHI: The turnover of commodity bourses has dropped sharply on transaction tax proposal and reports that the government may ban futures trading of more commodities. Analysts fear the turnover may get eroded by another 20-30% once commodities transaction tax (CTT) comes into effect.

The daily volume of trade on MCX, which was at Rs 16,726.03 crore on February 28, a day before Budget 2008 was presented, has come down to Rs 12,448.52 crore as on April 11. In NCDEX, the volume dropped to Rs 1,939.43 crore from Rs 2,665.54 crore in the same period.

Finance minister P Chidambaram had proposed CTT of 0.017% while presenting the Budget. Although the Budget is yet to be passed in Parliament, all eyes are on the date when the CTT would come into effect, an analyst with a Mumbai-based commodity brokerage house said.

India May Relax Oilseeds Import Next Year

Chennai: The Union Government may relax import of oilseeds in 2009 to take the heat out of an “overheated domestic” oil and oilseeds market, according to Dorab Mistry, Director, Godrej International Ltd.

Improved supply

Presenting a paper on “Fundamental Approach to Price Forecasting 2008” at the Globoil International in Dubai on Monday, Mistry said cooking oil prices were likely to rise and rule firm, despite improved supply.

Currently, oilseed imports are not taking place due to strict phyto-sanitary conditions imposed by the Centre and a high customs duty of 30 per cent. Crude or unrefined vegetable oils' imports are allowed duty-free, while refined vegetable oil imports are permitted at 7.5 per cent duty.

Lower duty?

What Mistry means is that if the firm trend continues in vegetable oil prices, the Centre may relax the phyto-sanitary conditions and lower the customs duty, probably to zero. The London-based Godrej official was among the first to predict the Centre allowing crude vegetable oils import at zero duty.

The soaring prices of rice would be an important factor for allowing imports of oilseeds freely. Rice is the most important food crop in the world and in view of the raging prices, China and India would pay divided attention to rice. Hence, it could lead to fall in area under oilseeds and pulses, Mistry said.

Global supply of vegetable oils was likely to be 5.4 million tonnes (mt) against a demand of 4.5 mt. Compared with this, last year the supply was 3.8 mt against a demand of 6 mt.

Palm oil move

The higher supply may not prevent the prices of cooking oils from rising, Mistry said, adding that the palm oil market was likely to move sideways the next three weeks, while the soyabean oil market was likely to remain bullish the next 12 weeks.

Projecting the price trend, he said crude palm oil was likely to top 4,500 ringgits ($1,425) a tonne, while RBD palmolein could touch $1,600. On Monday, crude palm oil was quoted at 3,595 ringgits ($1,138), while RBD palmolein closed at $1,295.

Soyabean oil would continue to enjoy a premium over palm oil with active support from the funds. The oil could touch $1,800, while soyabean could reach $16 a bushel, he predicted.

Crucial factors

Factors that are crucial to the price hikes are US plantings of soyabean, the Argentina farmers’ strike and weather developments, especially in oil palm-growing countries of Malaysia and Indonesia.

Maize Prices Turn Sober Amidst Export Ban Fears

Coimbatore: Maize prices have turned sober this week amidst speculation on the Union Government extending the export ban on the commodity too.

The market yard (loose) price of maize that remained firm over the past several weeks tumbled last week from the previous week’s Rs 7,200 a tonne to Rs 7,090.

According to the US Grains Council’s India market report, the sobering maize price is partly due to increased arrivals of the rabi crop into major markets.

Millet, jowar lower

The fear of the Government extending the export ban to coarser grains is also believed to be behind the sobering prices this week which have seen the price of pearl millet (bajra) ruling lower by some nine per cent over previous week’s price at Rs 7,000 a tonne and the jowar (sorghum) at Rs 10,050 a tonne, some 1.2 per cent lower than the previous week’s price level. Barley prices too slipped to Rs 950 a tonne, some one per cent down from the previous week’s levels.

Maize futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower at $229.98 a tonne for May 2008 delivery and the July delivery too quoted marginally lower at $235.18 a tonne.

Q1 Tea Sales Fetch Rs 16 Cr More At Coonoor

Coonoor: Producers who sold their teas through the auctions of the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) in the first quarter of 2008 have earned Rs 16.65 crore more than in the same period last year because more volume could be sold despite the asking price rising.

An analysis of the market reports shows that the average price rose to Rs 53.36 a kg from Rs 49.21 last year. Still, a volume of 9.69 million kg was sold against 7.17 million kg last year.

Consequently, the turnover rose to Rs 51.93 crore from Rs 35.28 crore, marking an increase of Rs 16.65 crore or 47.19 per cent.

The biggest increase came in the CTC teas. Here, the price rose to Rs 53.14 a kg from Rs 48.02. Still, the volume sold increased to 8.94 million kg from 6.52 million kg.

But, more volume of orthodox teas could be sold only by dropping the prices. A volume of 7.5 lakh kg of orthodox teas was sold against 6.49 lakh kg by dropping the price to an average of Rs 58.59 a kg from Rs 61.13.

Pressure from exporters

Overall, more volume could be sold because of increased pressure from exporters in March arising from a 30 per cent drop in Kenyan crop due to drought. Preliminary predictions are that the overall Kenyan output in 2008 would be 10 per cent lower than last year. The short supplies have driven the prices to a whopping $2.47 a kg forcing many low-end operators to look for other suppliers. Some such importers from Pakistan operated at Coonoor auctions firmly in March. With North Indian auctions reporting low volume being lean season and even cancelling some sales, exporters’ presence was felt more in Coonoor.

Punjab Curbs Early Sowing Of Rice

New Delhi: Punjab has imposed restrictions on early sowing of rice for the oncoming kharif season and the Amritsar district administration has even imposed a prohibitory order.

Two farmers of Amritsar district have moved the Punjab High Court over the issue, and a division bench has allowed the petition and issued notice to the Badal Government before posting the case for hearing on April 23.

While the Amritsar district has passed an order, officials in other parts of the State have verbally asked farmers to follow the regulations strictly. The State Government wants the farmers not to sow paddy before May 10 and begin transplantation only after June 10.

Depleting water table

The move is in view of the depleting water table in the State. According to a study, the groundwater table during the past five years has depleted by 48 centimetres annually. Rice is one of the most water-intensive crops in the country.

Government official say such a situation prevails in Haryana too. Punjab and Haryana are main contributors of kharif paddy production.

“State officials have told us verbally that we cannot plant rice before May 10 due to lower water level in the reservoirs too,” said Jagjit Singh of Mansa village in Punjab.

The current water storage position in the 81 major reservoirs in the country is about 30 per cent of the full reservoir level of 151.77 billion cubic metres.

This is over 10 per cent lower than the situation during the corresponding period a year-ago.

Also, rainfall since March in these growing areas has been scanty. The Agriculture Ministry data say rainfall in these areas has been four mm against the normal 52.2 mm.

Improve environment

Dr B. Mishra, Project Director of the Karnal-based Directorate of Wheat Research in Haryana, the move to curb early sowing was welcome, since it will help improve the environment.

“Farmers sow paddy soon to ensure early harvest. Since paddy will be growing during the peak of summer, the crop will need more water. This affects the water table and the ecological balance. The farmers can go in for pulses such as moong after wheat and then plant paddy. This will help them get better returns and also protect the environment,” he said.

Punjab and Haryana have contributed 93.48 lakh tonnes (lt) of rice this year to the buffer stocks. This is out of the 219.52-lt procured till April 4. Last year, these States contributed 96.01 lt of the 250.75-lt procured by the Centre.

Currently, wheat harvest is in full swing in both these States.

Commodities : Philippines Likely To Buy 60000 Mt Us Rice

The Philippine National Food Authority is expected to buy around 60,000 metric tons of rice from the U.S. based on offers made at a tender Tuesday, a senior official of the agency said Friday. The contract price hovered around $838/ton, free on board, said the official, declining to be named. The NFA, however, is still negotiating the freight cost.

The Philippines held a tender Tuesday to buy $75 million worth of rice from the U.S. under a commodity loan program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The NFA has been given an import quota to buy up to 2.1 million tons of rice this year. However, the total imports could reach up to 2.7 million tons following a commitment made by Vietnam last month to supply an additional 1.5 million tons. The NFA, which has so far contracted to buy 1.1 million tons of rice, mainly from Vietnam, will hold a tender April 17 to buy up to 500,000 tons. It is also planning to hold a tender in May to buy another 500,000 tons.

Commodities : China Steel Exports Rebound On Widening Domestic, World Markets Price Gap

China exported 4.16 million tons of steel in March, an increase of 1.05 million tons from February, spurred by the widening price gap between the domestic and international markets.

International steel prices rose more sharply than domestic prices, with the price gap extending to 100 U.S. dollars to 200 U.S. dollars per ton, which propped up more exports, said industry expert Xu Xiangchun.

March exports were 22.6 percent less than a year earlier, the latest customs figures showed.

The accumulated export in the first quarter totaled 11.39 million tons, down 19.3 percent year on year, with the export value up 7.6 percent.

Net exports in March stood at 2.65 million tons, 790,000 tons more than a month ago, but 30.3 percent less than the corresponding period of last year.

Aggregated imports dropped 2.1 percent from a year earlier to 4.18 million tons.

Xu said the rising exports in March were in part due to the undelivered goods in February, and that the tax rebate abolition for the exported energy-consuming goods was beginning to bear fruit.

Despite the increase from February, exports declined from the same period last year. Xu said. He expected more tightening policies to come out if monthly exports exceeded 400 tons.

Luo Bingsheng, vice-chairman of China Iron and Steel Association, forecast the country's exports of crude steel would decline to 52.5 million tons this year from 73.07 million tons in 2006, largely due to the government's effort to curb the exports of the alloy of iron and carbon.