Palm oil steady in Europe: Palm oil prices opened steady in Europe on Thursday despite news that Indonesia may lift its ban on palm oil exports soon. Indonesian Forestry and Plantations Minister Sumahadi said on Thursday the government may lift the ban on palm oil exports this month and replace it with an export tax. However prices were still being influenced at the opening by rumours circulating in Asia that the Indonesian government would not lift the ban on exports until the local price dropped to 2,750 rupiah/kg. In a thin pre-holiday market crude palm oil opened $5 upwith products reported trade around $10 above Wednesday levels.

Malaysia rubber ends up: Malaysian rubber prices closed higher on Thursday on short-covering interest ahead of the long Good Friday and Easter holidays, dealers said. They said inquiries trickled in for Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) grades, but there was no record of business. "Sentiment is better because of the inquiries, but I don't think anyone's taking positions yet because of the long holidays," said a dealer. He said apart from the four-day break in Europe, the Thai rubber market would also be closed until Thursday for local festivities. The Indonesian market will be closed for Good Friday.

Ivorian cocoa arrival dips: Ivory Coast's 1997/98 (October-September) cocoa arrivals totalled 938,000 tonnes by April 5 against 980,000 tonnes a year ago, with volumes seen rising by May, crop analysts said on Thursday. "We will see at least two (weekly) figures in April which should be a bit higher," said one London-based cropanalyst after the latest arrivals of 6,000 tonnes -- up slightly from below 5,000 tonnes in recent weeks.

South Korean rubber import falls: South Korea's natural rubber imports totalled 21,844 tonnes in February, down 14 per cent from a year earlier, data from the Korea International Trade Association showed on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka rubber prices firm: Prices at Sri Lanka's rubber auction this week were firm due to good demand despite the large quantity of stock on offer, traders said on Thursday. "Quantities were higher, but there was good demand," said Shehan Meegama of commodity brokers John Keells. Best latex one-X was at Rs 77.50 per kg, up from Rs 77.30 last week. Number one was at Rs 75 per kg and RSS1 at Rs 45 per kg, the same prices they fetched last week. A total of 296 tonnes of latex crepe, 69 tonnes of scrapcrepe and 30 tonnes of sheet rubber were on offer at the auction held only on Tuesday this week due to Easter holidays. "The large quantities were due to the removal of theexport tax on rubber," Meegama said.

Singapore rubber futures up: Singapore rubber futures rebounded on Thursday after recent falls but traders said they did not expect major gains due to a lack of user demand. Minor buying emerged after recent falls as some players considered the market had touched its lows, they said. "There is no specific change on the fundamental side. Demandis still weak across Asia," said one trader. Another trader saw some short-covering before the long Easter weekend but added: "The buying is not strong enough to push for a rally."

Indonesian rubber stable: Indonesian rubber prices were stable in late trading on Thursday on limited buying interest, traders said. They said the market was fairly active in the afternoon because of higher Tokyo rubber futures on technical buying. "Buyers entered the market this afternoon, I think because they want to fully enjoy their holidays later this week by doing their purchases now. The market was fairly active, also because of thehigher prices in Tokyo," said one trader in Palembang, South Sumatra. "It is kind of hard to say what's going to happen next week, but it is safe to say the market is going to be stable. There are so many factors to pay attention to in the market", he said.

Metal market closed: Metals markets were shut for a religious festival on Thursday, dealers said, and are expected to reopen on Friday. Non ferrous metals were traded in a narrow band in a market lulled by the string of holidays dealers said on Wednesday. Supplies were thin and kept prices around the previous levels, they said. Copper was quiet at Rs 11,800 per quintal (100 kg) and so was zinc at Rs 7,200 and lead at Rs 4,100 per quintal.

European fuel oil bullish: European fuel oil continued its bullish move early on Thursday as steady demand boosted barge prices. "Demand is strong and we're seeing some short covering in front of the holiday weekend," one trader said. Prompt high sulphur fuel oil traded between $75.5 and $76.5a tonneearly in the day, with offers moving up to about $77, according to market players. Eurograde gasoline barges also moved up, with one parcel heard done at $154 a tonne, traders said. Market activity was expected to be concentrated in the morning, one trader said, and dwindle as the day progressed because of the long holiday weekend.

Tokyo naphtha firmer: Tokyo naphtha gained some ground on Thursday, buoyed by bullish overnight crude markets, while Indonesia has yet to allocate extra low sulphur waxy residue (LSWR) cargoes for April, traders said. They said Pertamina may not allocate additional cargoes for the month at all as the state-run oil firm's LSWR export availability has declined somewhat since the region's Financial crisis hit the country. Pertamina allocated 3.1 million barrels of LSWR for April after having allotted 3.2 million barrels for the last four months in its initial allocation. May is likely to see another smaller-than-usual LSWR allocation, said a trader with one of Pertamina'saffiliates.

IPE Brent, gas oil up: IPE Brent and gas oil futures climbed in morning trade on Thursday in response to Venezuela's declaration of a force majeure on oil contracts, brokers said. Front month May Brent traded 13 cents higher at $14.11 a barrel by 1015 GMT. May gas oil reached as high as $135 a tonne before easing to$134.25, up $3.00 on Wednesday's close. "The Venezuela news is driving up the market... we seem to have broken a bit of a downtrend," one trader said.

IPE requests termination of Brent: London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) has called for early termination of its Brent crude futures contract listing on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (Simex), industry sources said on Thursday. "The IPE has asked Simex for the termination of the contract as soon as possible," an industry source said. The sources said Simex would be minded to agree to an early termination, but wanted to make sure "correct terms" were agreed between the two exchanges. The IPEdeclined any immediate comment and Simex was not available for comment. under a five-year contract with the IPE, Simex has exclusive rights to list Brent futures during Asian hours until June 2000. The Brent contract has largely failed to attract liquid trading interest in Asia since it was launched in 1995. The volume of oil traded has dwindled to, at times, less than a hundred lots per day, compared with an average of 55,000 lots traded daily on the IPE this year.

Asia gas oil firmer: The Asian gas oil market was firmer on Thursday as buyers' ideas rose to meet sellers' offers, although supplies still exceeded the existing demand, traders said. A gas oil trade for April 27-May 1 was done between two US majors in the Singapore physical market, higher than the last trade done at $17.30 on Friday. But few traders were convinced that the market was fundamentally stronger.

Cosmo Oil to unify sections: Cosmo Oil Co Ltd said on Thursday it planned to combine the purchasing departments of itsgroup firms into one new section by June as part of restructuring efforts. The streamlining measure is expected to save the refiner around six billion yen a year.