No cold in Brazil coffee areas: Minor harvest delays are possible at Times during the week in Brazil's southern coffee belt due to showers but no major problems are expected, private forecaster Weather Services Cop said. Colder high pressure is about to move into Argentina, but there are no signs of this cold air making its way northward into the coffee areas. There is no damaging cold in sight. It will be mainly dry with high temperatures of 75-88F(24-31C) and lows of 55-68F (13-20C).

Asian coffee quiet: Coffee trade in Southeast Asia was quiet after Indonesia's peaceful independence day, with prices marginally lower from late last week in line with weak world prices, traders said last week. Widespread fears of fresh riots in Indonesia evaporated after Monday's independence day ended with no reports of violence and traders in Singapore said they had not heard of any disturbance in coffee trade. "There were worries last week, and I am sure there are still worries now," said one trader in Singapore. "Maybe some Chinese traders left for the independence day, but not all. Overall, the market is quite smooth and nothing much has changed. We still see small lots being traded," he said.

Indonesia cocoa prices down: Prices of cocoa in Indonesia were down last week because of a stronger rupiah while traders have been holding back stocks waiting for higher prices, traders said last week. "Prices have continued to fall since last week and many traders are holding back stocks waiting the prices to increase," said Trismi, a trader in Ujung Pandang, the provincial capital of the key-growing area of South Sulawesi. Traders said prices for average quality beans hovered around 15,000-16,000 rupiah/kg against last week's price levels of 16,550 rupiah/kg. The rupiah was hovering around the 12,000 level to the USdollar, bouyed by the yen, and analysts expect the rupiah to breach the 12,000 level by the end of the week. The rupiah was quoted at 12,100/12,200 against the dollar at 0500 GMT.

PM urged to exempt tea from imports list: Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was last week urged by the apex body of tea to exempt tea from the list of imports from saarc countries. In Colombo recently, the prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced that quantitaive restrictions on imports of 2000 items, including tea, from saarc countries would be lifted. Reacting to the government decision, the chairman of Consultative Committe of Plantation Associations (CCPA), apex body of team coffee, rubber and spices planters, Vinay Goenka said the "unilateral decision" of the union government would spell doom for the Indian tea industry, and thus it should either be excluded from the list or a prohibitive tariff on imports be imposed. In a letter faxed to the pmo, the ccpa chairman explained that since tea was a highly labour-intensive industry, involving over a million workers, the decision would jeopardise the tea industry as their livelihood would be at stake if the margins of the industry getsqueezed.

Pepper production to rise: India's pepper production is set to peak in the coming years as higher returns of the last two years have enthused growers to adopt better plant management practices, an agriculture expert has said. With a majority of new planting being undertaken with notified or accredited varieties of high yield, prospects for further rise in production has brightened, says M Remold of Directorate of Cocoa, Arecanut and Spices Development (dcasd) in the agriculture ministry. Over 500 lakh pepper rooted cuttings were utilised between 1992-93 and 1996-97 covering 53,500 hectares under replanting, gap filling and new planting and these were set to come into production in the next couple of years, Remold said in an article in "planters chronicle", a journal of the United Planters Association of South India (UPASI).

Production, especially during 1997-98 (October-September) had been estimated to increase to 65,000 tonnes as output in Kerala, which accounts for 97 per cent of total output, was estimated to rise to 60,000 tonnes from 55,700 tonnes last season.

Thai rubber exporters sceptical: Thai rubber exporters have expressed doubt over the feasibility of a proposal by Asian rubber producing countries to shore up sagging prices by crimping supply, industry sources said last week. They said the scheme, proposed at an Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) meeting in Bangkok, was unrealistic. The plan would involve asking rubber producers to produceless or hold back stocks from the world market. But industry sources said it would be hard to get cooperation in Asia at a time when every producing country in the region, bitten by the worst economic crisis in decades, needed to export as much as possible to earn foreign exchange. The ANRPC started a three-day closed-door meeting on Wednesday, during which new measures have been proposed to deal with sagging rubber prices as some key members have threatened to pull out of the International Natural Rubber Organisation (INRO).

Rupiah movements dominate coffee: Indonesian suppliers are holding their coffee beans in the face of a strengthening Indonesian rupiah and falling local prices, traders said last week. "The coffee market is a rupiah market now," said one trader with a US Trading house. Vietnam, the other main coffee producer in Asia, will return to the market only in October when its next crop kicks in and there are no other fresh fundamentals in the market, traders said. Domestic prices in Indonesia fell by more than 10 per cent in the past few days and exporters were reluctant to sell beans purchased at higher rupiah levels earlier. "They can't sell to the international market now, especially when local prices are still falling because of the stronger rupiah," one trader said. While offers were limited, western trading houses stayed on the sidelines waiting for a clear direction for the currency to take their next move, they said. "It looks like the rupiah is still stablising, but who knows what's next? I think mostwestern houses are waiting for the rupiah to settle down," said another trader.

Indonesia cocoa prices down: Prices of cocoa in Indonesia were down last week because of a stronger rupiah while traders have been holding back stocks waiting for higher prices, traders said. "Prices have continued to fall since last week and many traders are holding back stocks waiting the prices to increase," said Trismi, a trader in Ujung Pandang, the provincial capital of the key-growing area of South Sulawesi. Traders said prices for average quality beans hovered around 15,000-16,000 rupiah/kg against last week's price levels of 16,550 rupiah/kg. The rupiah was hovering around the 12,000 level to the USdollar, bouyed by the yen, and analysts expect the rupiah to breach the 12,000 level by the end of the week. The rupiah was quoted at 12,100/12,200 against the dollar at 0500 gmt. Traders said they were watching the possible impact on crops of the La Nina weather phenomenon as torrential rains continue to fall in cocoa-growing areas.

Vietnam coffee trade slow: Vietnam's coffee trade was slow this week on thin demand with some buyers turning to fresh supplies from Indonesia, traders said last week. Robusta benchmark Grade 2, 5.0 per cent black and broken was quoted at between $1,420-1,440 a tonne, FOB Saigon Port, against $1,460-1,480 a tonne last week. "A few buyers who needed to cover their shorts approached us this week," said a trader in the central highland province of Daklak. "But many have turned to Indonesia where newly harvested coffee beans have become available." He said offers of Indonesian coffee were more competitive with a differential of $120-140 per tonne below London while discounts for Vietnam's robusta were $100 a tonne.