Iran province to produce wheat: Iran's northeastern Golestan province is expected to produce 600,000 tonnes of wheat in the current Iranian year after a 12 percent rise in cultivated area, the official news agency IRNA reportedon Monday. "The nation can count on some 600,000 tonnes of wheat from the agriculturally rich Golestan province during the current Iranian year," IRNA said. The year started on March 21. The agency quoted the head of the provincial agriculture department Ismail Esfandiari-Pour as saying some 220,000 hectares of land would be under wheat this year, a 12 percent increase over the previous year's 196,000 hectares. The province produced 530,000 tonnes of the grain in thelast Iranian year, making it the fourth largest wheat-producing province, IRNA added.

Dalian soyabeans end down: Dalian soyabean futures ended down, traders said. They said the fall gained speed after the market broke through key support at 2,500 yuan, which triggered stop-loss sell orders. The May 1998 contract fell 65 yuan to 2,376 yuan per tonne; July 79 to 2,414; November 87 to 2,423; the January 1999 contract 88 to 2,366; and March 93 to 2,367. Combined volume rose to 236,578 lots from 140,502 lots. Futures prices were likely to fallfurther in the short termon worries over imports, even though technical charts showed the market was oversold, traders said.

Manila coconut oil softer: Coconut oil prices are likely to trend lower in the near term as stocks remain plentiful, Manila vegetable oil traders said on Monday. "Short-term coconut oil prices should go a little bit lower due to the pressure of ample stocks. But medium to long-term, we expect prices to be stronger," said a senior trader. The trader said that four months from now, poor copra production that can be blamed on the cyclical drop in output and the El Nino weather phenomenon might put pressure on coconut oil prices. Copra is the raw material for coconut oil. The Philippine sis the world's largest exporter of coconut oil. "My guess is that short term prices may drop by $10 a tonne,but once the huge stocks are flushed out, prices may go as high as $30 a tonne," said another coconut oil trader.

Philippines buys yellow corn: The Philippines' National FoodAuthority said on Monday it had bought a total of 75,000 tonnes of yellow corn from the United States and Argentina at $127.34-$151.40 per tonne, including cost and freight.

Tokyo rubber ends firmer: Tokyo rubber futures ended slightly firmer across the board on Monday, as concerns over dry weather in rubber-producing countries stimulated short-covering by private investors, traders said. Prices ranged from 0.8 yen to 1.3 yen per kg higher.Benchmark September finished 0.8 yen higher at 102.9 yen. "Expectations that rubber supply in producing countries will be tight due to dry weather in Thailand helped spur buying interest here," a commodity broker said. "Market sentiment has improved slightly as prices did not fall despite the yen's firmer tendency against the dollar," the analyst said.

Kuala Lumpur rubber ends up: Malaysian rubber prices closed higher on a firmer close in Tokyo but trading remained quiet at the start of the week. dealers said. "There is a lack of consumer interest fromEurope. Most of them are still on Easter holidays," said a dealer at a commission house. "Gains were only due to Tokyo." May Int. Ones RSS buyer rose a cent to 284.50 cents (78 US cents) a kg and May SMR 20 buyer was up half a cent at 277. News Malaysia may pull out of the International Natural Rubber Organisation (INRO) along with Thailand due to disillusionment with the world rubber has no impact on the market which was also tracking currency movements.

Vietnam to import raw cashew: Vietnam aims to import 70,000 tonnes of unshelled cashew to run processing plants but the plan will be tough to implement because of high prices, a Vietnam Cashew Association official said on Monday. "All the offers are higher than $800 a tonne and that makes our calculations for production costs and profits here complicated," the official told Reuters. He confirmed a local newspaper report on Monday which said the plan was to import up to 30,000 tonnes of cashew worth some $20.5 million from India between April andMay. Another newspaper report said individual plants would have to pay for the imports. The official declined to give further details of the negotiations.

Russian aluminium, nickel output up: Russia produced 734,400 tonnes of primary Aluminium in January-March 1998, up 3.4 per cent on the same period in 1997, Interfax news agency reported late on Friday. The figure included production of 254,300 tonnes in March alone, Interfax said, citing the Moscow-based Alyuminiy consultancy. Total CIS production, including Tajikistan and Ukraine as well as Russia, was 805,600 tonnes in the first three months, also up 3.4 per cent from the first quarter 1997. This included 278,300 tonnes in March. Meanwhile, Russian primary nickel production jumped by 31.3 per cent in January-February 1998 against the same period in 1997, official data from the State Statistics Committee showed on Monday. The figures showed January-February primary aluminium production was up 3.2 percent against the same period of 1997, whilerefined copper rose 11.4 percent.

Tokyo gold ends up: Yen-based gold futures pared early losses to close firmer on Monday after seesawing in line with dollar/yen movements, while other precious metal futures closed mostly easier on long liquidation, traders said. Trade was lacklustre, with major overseas markets still closed for Easter Monday, they said. Gold futures ranged from two to 13 yen per gram higher.Benchmark February ended up three yen at 1,276 yen, after trading between 1,263 and 1,283 yen. "Prices fluctuated in line with dollar/yen rates amid a lack of other fresh incentives," one broker said.

Kuwait oil firm to go on stream: Kuwait Mina Al-Ahmadi's 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) is due to come back onstream by the end of April, industry officials said on Monday. "Maintenance is progressing on schedule and Ahmadi will meet the target date of the end of April," one official said. "There are no more CDU shutdowns scheduled for this year." KuwaitNational Petroleum Co (KNPC) Ahmadi refinery, with a sustainable production capacity of 420,000 bpd, had started a 45-day shutdown and maintenance on the CDU in mid-March. Ahamdi is the largest of KNPC's three domestic refineries which have recently raised their total capacity to about 920,000 bpd as part of a plan to reach one million bpd, officials said. Shuaiba refinery has in recent weeks returned to its pre-1991 Gulf war production capacity of about 195,000 bpd, the officials added.

Simex declines to comment: The Singapore International Monetary Exchange (Simex) on Monday declined comment on the future of the Brent crude futures contract after industry sources said the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) had called for its early termination on Simex. A Simex spokesman told Reuters: "We regret to inform you that Simex declines to comment." Last Thursday, sources said the IPE wanted to terminate its five-year contract allowing Brent to be listed on Simex. "The IPE has asked Simex for thetermination of the contracts soon as possible," an industry source had said. The sources said SIMEX would agree to an early termination, but wanted to make sure "correct terms" were agreed between the two exchanges.

(Compiled from Reuters)