Liffe sugar steady: White sugar futures on Liffe were trading up slightly early Wednesday as the market looked for consolidation on the back of recent physical news, brokers in London said. "The market is trying to consolidate. It is too cheap to be selling," said one broker from a leading futures brokerage house. "The next move could be on the upside but I don't want to get rampant. "Technically, the market is also expected to bounce slightly Wednesday," brokers said. "Everytime the market goes through $250.00 it starts to go up," said one broker in Paris.

Thai rice exports up: Thailand's rice exports for the period from January 1 to April 19 totalled 2,139,174 metric tons, up 67 per cent from 1,277,543 tonnes in the same period last year, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Department of Foreign Trade of the Commerce Ministry. Rice exports for April 1-19 amounted to 305,031 tonnes, while exports during the week ending April 26 are expected to be 120,000-125,000 tonnes, the department said. Previously, the department's director general Pracha Charutrakulchai, said the country's rice exports in the first quarter would reach 1.84 million tons. Pracha added that the total rice exports during the second quarter will be lower than first quarter due to several major importing countries cutting orders as a result of the economic downturn.

Asian palm oil flat: Asian physical palm oil prices are flat to higher Wednesday with prices in the Malaysianmarkets quoted higher, tracking futures gains on the Kuala Lumpur Commodity Exchange. Palm oil futures were trading higher Wednesday lifted by some buying interest in the market amid the Indonesian export ban lift effective Wednesday. The futures market barely reacted to the news of the ban lifting.

Liffe coffee down: Liffe May coffee futures were trading down early Wednesday mainly on lack of buying, said traders. "There's a lack of quality buying. We think the funds have enough and so they're not buying," said one trader. "We'd need a substantial buy to get May back over $2000 a tonne," he added. Traders said they considered Vietnam out of the market at the moment and that only the $2000/mt price would induce Vietnam to sell. Traders had said the previous week they expected origins to sell once the May coffee contract reached $1990/mt, but this wasn't the case. CSCE May coffee futures were also trading down Tuesday, closing at $1.4780 a pound, down 2.70 cents/pound from Monday's close.

Dubaigold imports down: Dubai's gold imports fell to 39.368 tonnes in March from 52.51 tonnes in February. The import figures, compiled by Dubai customs, showed that South Africa emerged last month as the second largest supplier to the Gulf Arab emirate, selling 8.226 tonnes. Switzerland remained the largest supplier at 25.911 tonnes. Dubai's lower March imports were attributed to increased direct imports by Indian banks and institutions which previously used Dubai as a re-export centre. "We are seeing some substitution effect and more direct imports from Europe (to India)...it has materialised earlier than we thought," Rolf Schneebeli, Chief executive for the WGC's Middle East and Indian division said.

Hong Kong gold ends higher: Hong Kong spot gold ended higher on follow-through buying and strength in the platinum group metals, dealers said. Gold bullion ended at $311.10/60 per ounce on Wednesday compared to New York's previous close at $310.60/311.10 on Tuesday. Spot silver ended at $6.31/36 anounce after closing in New York at $6.31/34 on Tuesday. Gold continued gains made overnight from a sharply lower dollar and further strength in gold equities. The rise "caused professional dealers to buy in the market" in Asia, a trader said. Gold and silver were helped by palladium which was quoted at $337.00/342.00 an ounce late in the Asian day, an 18 year high that mainly resulted from short-covering by investors.

China copper futures climb: Copper futures on the Shanghai and Shenzhen metals exchanges ended higher Wednesday, as speculators moved into forward futures after strong gains on London Metal Exchange three-month copper contracts Tuesday, traders and analysts said. The Shanghai copper August contracts - China's most active copper futures - rose 120 yuan ($1=CNY8.28) in range-bound trading, with volume reaching 11,544 metric tonnes. China forward futures have been tracking a sharp rebound in LME copper three-months, which took the LME contracts to $1,868 Tuesday from lows near $1,710 twoweeks ago, traders said. Oversupply has been exacerbated by a rise in imports over the past two months, a Shanghai-based trader with Zhongji Futures Co said. "The spread between (Shanghai) May and August futures is growing, which means that speculators are buying into the benchmark but the cash market situation is holding the spot contract down," he said.

Asian copper down: Copper premiums in Asia are down Wednesday, but are still generally about $10 a ton higher compared to premiums in March, supported indirectly by strong demand in the US and western Europe. A trader with a European trading house in Hong Kong said the tightness in nearby supplies felt in Asia, which has been keeping premiums buoyed, is not caused by demand in the region. "The Far East economy still isn't good," he said, alluding to Asian demand having been crimped by the Asian crisis. He dismissed the suspicion that China has been steadily - and quietly - buying spot copper. "The LME (copper price) is high. There's no big interestfrom China at this point in time," he said.

Gold down, palladium up: Spot gold is narrowly down late Wednesday in Asia from New York Tuesday, with trading limited to a tight 50-cent range. Palladium is a touch above New York levels, continuing to show strength on the unsettled Russian political situation and lending support to platinum and gold. "Hopefully this afternoon, we'll see some follow-through buying from New York," said a Singapore-based precious metals dealer with a US bank.

LME metals edge lower: Base metals futures on the London Metal Exchange are slightly lower Wednesday in thin Asian dealings, but dealers are bracing for more volatility in copper later Wednesday in London or New York trading hours. Traders said copper will remain volatile, with the market currently dominated by major US funds and world copper producers. The copper market, they noted, has been in backwardation since last week owing to producers' hedge-selling in the forward months, while US funds' active buyingof May call options was the main impetus for the copper price spike to $1,885 Thursday last week. Views on copper's immediate direction are mixed.

Brent edges higher: Brent blend crude futures finished trading between 5 cents-15 cents higher, with the front (June) Brent contract at $14.51, 12 cents up by the official settlement Tuesday. The front (June/July) contango had at the same time widened to 33 cents compared to 30 cents at the previous close. Earlier, IPE gas oil futures finished between $1.75-$3.00 stronger after slow trade Tuesday. The front (May) gas oil contract stood at $137.75, $2.50 higher by the official settlement, having traded in a range $135.00-$138.25. June gas oil ended up $2.00 at $139.50. Traders said June Brent bounced off a low of $14.32, despite pressure from locals and fund players who had gone short prior to the US opening.

Dubai to build gas pipeline: Dubai expects first gas supplies from fellow UAE member Abu Dhabi to start in the year 2001, a senior officialwas on Wednesday quoted as saying. Work on building a gas pipeline to Dubai was likely to start this year and to take up to three years to complete.

(Compiled from Reuters & Agencies)