Pepper prices decline: Black pepper prices declined on the International Commodity Exchange on poor demand for futures from exporters amidst a rise in arrivals, dealers said. "Arrivals were on the higher side today while demand forfuture contracts was lukewarm," they said. In today's trading, August futures closed at a lower Rs 23,500 a quintal against Rs 23,750 yesterday. July futures closed at Rs 22,800 and June at Rs 22,000. In spot trading, garbled pepper prices slid to Rs 21,100 from Rs 21,200 yesterday and ungarbled ones were quoted at Rs 20,400 against Rs 20,500.

Rubber prices continue to tally: Natural rubber prices rallied sharply on the primary market on full-scale procurement by state-owned agencies amidst low arrivals, dealers said. "Procurment by agencies on behalf of the State Trading Corporation (STC) was on full swing," they said. Procurement is in full swing as the centre has directed the STC to procure 20,000 tonnes in two months. The Kerala high court ruling directing the centre to announce the benchmark price (BMP) within two months also had a psychololgical effect on the market. In today's trading, RSS four grade prices rose to Rs 3100 a quintal from Rs 2950 yesterday. At Kochi, the other major centre, therates closed at the same level against Rs 3100. Lot rubber prices also improved significantly to Rs 2800 a quintal against Rs 2675 yesterday. At Kochi, there was no trading in the ungraded variety. The global market also witnessed an uptrend with good demand for futures and many takers appearing on the scene for built U stocks. Prices of RSS three, the one comparable with India’s RSS four, closed at Rs 3198 a quintal against Rs 3173 a quintal yesterday at Kuala Lumpur.

Sugar further down: Poor offtake by stockists as against stocks pile-up forced millers to minimise their holdings, described furter downward trend in the sugar mill delivery (mill gate) prices on sugar market today. Imported sugar Pakistan (ex-Amritsar) delivery was also quoted lower in the absence of buying interest. Elsewhere, balanced demand and supply, led to a flat trend in almost all sugar commodities at wholesale market. Sugar mill delivery (mill gate) Baghpat slumped by Rs 15 to close at Rs 1375 a quintal while Mawana and ModiNagar dropped by Rs 3 each to close at Rs 1382 and Rs 1427 per quintal. On the other hand, Samli rise on fresh demand coupled with poor stocks and closed at Rs 1400 a quintal. Imported sugar Pakistan was traded at Rs 1475 instead ofRs 1480 per quintal. Prices continued to lean down on the Vashi wholesale sugar market on increased arrival from mills and relatively poor demand, dealers said. Medium sugar quality M-30 eased to Rs 1490/1535 per quintal while small sugar quality S-30 held steady at Rs 1475/1500.

Groundnut oil eases moderately: Groundnut oil prices eased further moderately on the oilseeds market due to lack of buying interest coupled with weak Gujarat advices, traders said. Elsewhere, prices of imported palm oil also weakened due to fresh arrivals. Other oils and oilseeds remained steady on scattered dealings. In the edible section, groundnut oil eased to Rs 413 from Rs 414. Groundnut bold, however, held steady at Rs 1970. Palm oil fell to Rs 379 from the last close of Rs 380. In thenon-edible section, castor oil commercial at Rs 282, castorseed Madras at Rs 1258, linseed oil at Rs 380 and linseed bold at Rs 1400 remained steady. In the futures market, castorseed June contract opened steady at Rs 1271 and after moving in a restricted way, closed at the same level, showing no change from yesterday. June contract, however, improved to Rs 1331 from Rs 1330.

Cotton yarn report: Steady conditions prevailed on the local cotton and yarn market with prices of all counts generally remained unchanged on selective trading. Traders said lack of demand from from neighbouring areas like Hapur, Pilkhua and Kanpur also influenced the sentiment. They said prevailing tight money market conditions also influenced the sentiment. The following were today's quotations (per 4.5 kilos): waste yarn: jyoti (2 count) 118 and deepak 2 counts 118, hank yarn (prices in Rs per 4.54 kilos): Gulabpur 20 count 360, KC textiles 2/4 245-246, KC textiles 2/6 256-257 and KC textiles 2/20 396-398. Cone yarn (in Rsper 5 kilos): Hissar 4 count-240, KS l6 count-251, Annapurna 10 count- 284, Gulapur 20 count-400, Hanumangarh 20 count-416 and Hasni 20 count and Hoseiry yarn in 5 kgs: Mahavir 20 count 435, Mahavir 30 count 495, Mahavir 34-535 and Mahavir 40 count-575.

Acetic acid, oxalic acid easy: Acetic acid and oxalic acid prices eased in the local chemical market here today as the manufacturers offered their products on reduced price due to poor buying response while ammonia bicarb and caustic soda flake increased due to tight supply coupled with increased demand. Acetic acid dropped by re one at rs 26.50 from rs 27.50, oxalic acid marked down by rs 50 at rs 1500-1650 from 1550-1650. Amonia bicarb, caustic soda flake increased by Rs 5, Rs 20 at Rs 250-260, Rs 680-690 from Rs 245-255, Rs 660-670 respectively.

Rs 3,486 cr mineral output in March: The value of mineral production (excluding atomic and minor minerals) in the country in march 1998 rose to Rs. 3,486 crore from 3,148 crore in February 1998.The contribution of coal was the highest at Rs 1,755 crore or 50 per cent followed by petroleum Rs 919 crore, natural gas (utilised) Rs 334 crore, iron ore Rs 154 crore, lignite Rs 90 crore and limestone Rs 73 crore. In volume, production of important minerals in March 1998 was coal 330 lakh tonnes, petroleum 29 lakh tonnes, natural gas (utilised) 17,280 lakh cu. Metre, iron ore 71 lakh tonnes, lignite 22 lakh tonnes, manganese ore 1.45 lakh tonnes, chromite 1.75 lakh tonnes, bauxite 6.57 lakh tonnes, copper ore 3.77 lakh tonnes, gold 168 kg, lead (concentrates) 6,495 tonnes, zinc (concentrates) 37,795 tonnes, limestone 87 lakh tonnes, apatite and phosphorite 94,000 tonnes, dolomite 2.36 lakh tonnes and magnesite 28,000 tonnes.

Spot gold upin Asia on silver: Spot gold is higher late Thursday in Asia from New York Wednesday, in line with silver prices which surged on early Australian buying. (Prices in dollars/troy ounce, except TOCOM in yen/gram). In Asia, on fears that physical demand from India mayfall at the same time that the Warren Buffett effect was wearing off, dealers said. At around 0711 GMT, the Nymex July 1998 silver contract had give 9.0 cents from the New York close to trade at $5.325 on a volume of 279 lots. On Tocom, the benchmark April 1999 contract closed up Y0.42 at Y22.00 per gram. The Sydney dealer added that he sees silver trading below $5.20-$5.40 in the short-term, with a possible return to $5.55 or higher if it should break to the topside of the range.

Hong Kong gold opens firmer: Hong Kong spot gold opened firmer on Thursday, extending gains posted in New York overnight, but dealers said the rise was not convincing. Bullion opened at $300.00/50 an ounce against New York’s $299.20/70 close on Wednesday and Hong Kong’s previous close of $298.10/60. Gold was pushed up following higher silver prices, according to a dealer at a local investment house.

Copper, brass prices recover: Copper and brass prices recovered on the non-ferrous metals market due to fresh hike inthe international prices coupled with good industrial buying, traders said. Other metals remained steady on scattered demand. However, copper wire bar remained steady.