Malaysian palm oil prices were higher at midday but trading was thin due to lack of fresh leads, traders said. "Prices were up this morning but there were no new factors to push the market much higher," said a trader. He expected prices to continue trading in a tight range in the afternoon. Traders said strong fundamentals again kept prices steady but the market's failure to test higher levels could spark off fresh selling. The market is also waiting for fresh palm olein tender from India's State Trading Corporation (STC), expected this week. STC last Friday passed on its tender for up to 24,000 tonnes of palm olein for November/December shipment.

Queensland sugar crush down

The Australian state of Queensland crushed 1.658 million tonnes of sugar cane in the week ended October 24, down 98,395 tonnes on the same week of last year, CANEGROWERS reported. The latest week brought the 1998 crush so far to 29.200 million tonnes, 1.986 million tonnes short of the 31.186million tonnes crushed by this time last season, CANEGROWERS said. Average commercial cane sugar (CCS) content for the latest week was 12.04 per cent, bringing the average CCS so far this crush to 12.65 per cent. This compares with the progressive average CCS of 13.90 per cent up to the same time last year. Australian sugar cane crush by region for the week ended October 24 as reported by CANEGROWERS in tonnes.

KL tin extends rise

Malaysia's spot tin price ended up 16 cents at 20.56 ringgit ($5.41) a kg on Wednesday, extending gains on continued European merchant demand and a stronger London market overnight, traders said. A smaller offering aided the rise, they said. "Buying was again mainly from London," said a trader with a local firm which does mostly European orders. He said merchants were buying for deliveries to the Far East. "The lower offering also helped the market today," said another trader. Volume was 48 tonnes, down from 59 tonnes on Tuesday, and was partly absorbed by Malaysianbuyers. Traders said the higher price kept Japanese buyers at the sidelines. They said the local tin price is expected to remain firm on the back of good demand. The local price premium over the London market widened slightly to $75 a tonne from $70 on Tuesday.

Shanghai copper futures fall

Shanghai copper futures fell in early trading on Wednesday as investors sold to cut their losses amid expectations of further falls in prices, traders said. The most active February 1999 contract stood at 15,500 yuan($1,872) per tonne, down 140 yuan from Tuesday's close. It opened at 15,530 yuan. The key January contract fell 140 yuan to 15,230 yuan. Prices were expected to move lower for the rest of the session, traders said. "Longs were eager to flee on the expectation that copper has not yet hit bottom," one trader said. Slight gains in London Metal Exchange (LME) copper overnight failed to lift the mood in Shanghai, traders said. The LME's benchmark three-month copper contract ended Tuesday's afternoon kerb$2 higher at $1,596 a tonne. Shanghai spot copper was quoted at 15,000-15,100 yuan compared with 15,000-15,200 yuan on Tuesday. No aluminium future contracts were traded in the first hour of business.

Japan brass mill output down

Japan's brass mill output in September fell 15.6 per cent from the same month last year to a seasonally adjusted 82,399 tonnes, according to preliminary data issued on Wednesday by the Japan Brass Makers' Association. It was the seventh consecutive month in which output had fallen by more than 10 per cent on a year-on-year basis. The association released preliminary September data for output only.

Sumitomo finds more gold in Alaska

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd said on Wednesday its Stoneboy gold mine project in Alaska had found 162 tonnes of gold in a deposit previously thought to hold only 140 tonnes. The Stoneboy project is being conducted jointly by Sumitomo Metal Mining's US subsidiary, a Canadian affiliate Teck Corp, and Sumitomo Corp's US subsidiary. SumitomoMetal Mining said in a statement that it would continue to study various aspects of the project, including its environmental impact.

World crude reserves at 400 bn tonnes

The world's heavy crude oil reserves total 400 billion tonnes, 2.7 Times conventional crude reserves, the China Oil Daily said on Wednesday. The figures were shown in a report from the four-day 7th International Conference on Heavy Crude and Tar Sands, which opened on Tuesday in Beijing, the newspaper said. China's heavy crude oil and tar sand reserves totalled 25billion tonnes, accounting for 28 per cent of the country's crude reserves, it said. Proven heavy crude and tar sand reserves in China were 1.2billion tonnes, it said. Output of heavy crude oil in China reached 13 million tonnes in 1997, it said, but gave no comparative figures. Several refineries, such as Fushun, Jinzhou and Jinxi in northeastern Liaoning province and the Shengli oilfield refinery in eastern Shandong province, were capable of refining heavy oil, itsaid, without giving further details.

Taiwan energy ports reopen

Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp said on Wednesday it had resumed operations at its crude and gas ports as the impact of fading Typhoon Babs eased. "The crude ports have returned to normal," a senior company executive said. Deliveries of liquefied natural gas at the two ports in southern and northern Taiwan also resumed, the executive said. The ports had been closed on Monday due to rough seas whipped up by Typhoon Babs, which rapidly lost strength on Tuesday as it squeezed into the narrow Taiwan strait.

Guatemala's coffee exports down

Guatemala's coffee exports from October 1-25 were down by nearly 61 per cent (corrects) compared to total October exports in 1997, The National Coffee Association (Anacafe) said on Tuesday. Anacafe president William Stixrud told Reuters total coffee exports from Guatamala for October, the first month of the just started 1998/99 crop year, were expected to fall way behind last yeardue to both crop damage and harvest delays. "The harvest is very behind if you compare it with earlier years. We have exported very little in October. A late harvest is a bad harvest. That's our problem now," Stixrud said. He said Guatemala between October 1 and October 25 only exported 67,843 60-kg bags of coffee, and showed little chance of coming close to the 172,356 60-kg bags exported during the entire month of October in 1997. A severe six-month drought earlier this year caused both significant crop losses from failed flowering in key growing areas, while high-altitude coffee plantations surviving the drought saw long delays to the flowering process. Anacafe now said it feared further crop delays from heavy rains and strong winds from Hurricane Mitch, one of the strongest ever recorded Atlantic storms which on Tuesday loomed in the Caribbean off the Central American coast. Anacafe has forecast total 1998/99 coffee exports to reach some 3.3 million 60-kg bags, down some 15 per cent from the 1997/98exports of almost 3.9 million 60-kg bags.