No trade in SFE wheat: Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE) wheat futures did not trade on Friday as a market squeeze tightened over quality problems in parts of the Australian crop. The cash grains market also froze following further rain overnight and on Friday in affected areas of the northern New South Wales (NSW) and southern Queensland wheat crop. Rain in recent months and into the present harvest is causing serious quality problems with wheat and barley produced in northern NSW and southern Queenesland. Harvest grain in affected areas is small-sized, oftendiseased and of highly variable protein content. Traders and brokers said on Friday that this was causing a market stand-off, with growers unsure of what grain was of saleable quality and buyers torn between a desire to secure supplies and quality fears.

Chinese corn sales to S Korea seen up: Sales of Chinese corn to South Korea are likely to grow if the country can supply good quality feed grains, a top South Korean official said on Friday. "If China can supply good quality feed grains at a reasonable price, the trade between us will expand further," said Park Soon Yong, chairman and president of the National Livestock Cooperatives Federation (NLCF). The comments were part of remarks prepared for delivery at a ceremony to mark the sale of 89,500 tonnes of Chinese corn to South Korea. China and the United States vie for sales to the South Korean maize market. Traders see China stepping up corn exports in coming months through favourable credit terms and competitive pricing after a bumper harvest thatleft warehouses brimming.

CBOT corn, wheat futures down: Corn and wheat futures finished lower Thursday at the Chicago Board of Trade, as the commodity fund buying that lifted markets earlier this week ebbed. CBOT traders waited Thursday for fund buying that never really materialized. Tuesday and Wednesday, funds bought millions of bushels of corn, sending futures to one of their biggest two-day rallies of the year. But funds were notably absent Thursday, leaving the market to wander about without direction most of the session. Trading was extremely quiet. Although lack of farmer selling was one fundamental working in the market's favor earlier this week, there's a growing perception that farmers are on the verge of marketing corn, analysts said. The only thing that would stand in the way of increased farmer sales is a South American weather problem. However, it was raining in Argentina Thursday, and forecasters say more rain is due over the weekend. Wheat futures stayed range-bound in featurelesstrading Thursday despite a bullish US acreage prediction from Sparks Co, a Memphis consulting firm.

SIDCO Aluminium leases smelter: SIDCO Aluminium Ltd, a Hong Kong-based trading company, acquired the lease of Jiangsu Aluminium Smelter in the eastern city of Nanjing, the China Metals newsletter said on Friday. In its latest edition, the newsletter said SIDCO will pay 6.0 million yuan ($723,000) annually under a six-year lease on the smelter, which has an annual capacity of 12,000 tonnes. The Jiangsu Smelter was the fourth aluminium smelter SIDCO acquired since last year, it said. The newsletter said SIDCO was aiming at building up control over 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes of aluminium smelting capacity in China.

Yunnan Aluminium to exceed output target: The Yunnan Aluminium Smelter in the southwestern city of Kunming was set to exceed its 45,000-tonne production target for this year, the China Metals newsletter reported on Friday. In its latest edition, the newsletter said about 25,000tonneswere for use in the company's fabricating plant and the remainder for export. The plant was in the process of expanding its electrolysis system to 95,000 tonnes per year by 1999 from 15,000, it said. In addition, a renovation project would enable the smelter to save power consumption by 1,000 to 1,500 kilowatt hours per tonne, the newsletter said. It did not give other details.

Malaysia tin down: Malaysia's spot tin price ended down 13 cents at 20.26 ringgit ($5.33) a kg on Friday as sellers increased their offering for fear of a further drop in prices, traders said. A slower demand also weighed on the market, they said. "People are coming out to sell again fearing a further price fall due to slower demand," said a trader. Volume rose to 71 tonnes from 51 tonnes on Thursday, with buyers from Europe and Malaysia appearing only at lower prices. Traders said the market was likely to remain soft although some good support was expected at the 20 ringgit a kg level. The local price premium over the Londonmarket narrowed to$65 a tonne from $100 previously following Friday's fall, traders said.

Saudi cuts crude sales: Saudi Arabia's state oil company Saudi Aramco has reduced term crude sales to Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) by five to six per cent for December liftings, traders said on Friday. This is similar to the reductions Aramco made for Japanese and South Korean term lifters. Traders said Aramco had reduced mainly CPC's December liftings of Arab Heavy crude, while meeting almost all its nomination for the lighter grades. CPC's lifts around 120,000 barrels per day of Saudi crude on term. Aramco told its South Korean buyers earlier on Friday December liftings would be cut by five to six per cent, while Japanese buyers were told of a five to 10 per cent reduction.

Nepal buys kerosene: State-owned Nepal Oil Co (NOC) has bought by tender superior kerosene oil (SKO) for December delivery from Shell, a company official said on Wednesday. NOC bought 30,000 tonnes of SKO for deliveryDecember 11-20at $129.92 per tonne into single Port Paradeep delivery and at $131.76 per tonne if delivered to two ports combination of Madras/Paradeep, both on the East coast of India, the official said. NOC holds the delivery option on the tender which closed on November 12, with offers valid until November 14. In its last SKO tender, NOC bought 30,000 tonnes of SKO for November 1-10 delivery from Mobil Corp at $148.80 or $149.80 per tonne for single or two Port delivery into the East coast of India, at NOC's option.

Nepal buys diesel: State-owned Nepal Oil Co (NOC) has bought diesel by tender for December delivery from Swiss trader Glencore, a company official said on Wednesday. The tender bought 30,000 tonnes of 0.5-per cent sulphur diesel for December 1-10, at $116.90 per tonne for single Port delivery into Paradeep or at $115.60 per tonne for two ports delivery combination of Madras/Paradeep, both on the East coast of India, the official said. Delivery will be at NOC's option in the tenderwhich closed on November 12, with offers valid until November 14. In its last diesel tender, NOC bought 30,000 tonnes of diesel for November 21-30 delivery from Shell at $120.42 or $120.89 per tonne for single or two Port delivery into East coast of India.

NYCE cotton futures higher: Cotton futures on the New York Cotton Exchange settled higher Thursday, as mills bought futures to lock in prices and speculators covered short positions ahead of the weekly cotton export sales to be released Friday by the US Department of Agriculture, traders said. On Wednesday, the market ended sharply lower as a wave of fund selling followed trade selling on the open, traders said. The report, usually released on Thursdays, has been postponed by the USDA due to the veteran's day holiday on Wednesday. In the long run, US cotton exporters face a situation of global limp demand for cotton because of economic turmoil in Asia and other foreign countries, market observers said. Also, the prospect of a reduced 1998/99 UScotton production adds to the inability of US exporters to compete with cheaper foreign cotton, analysts said.

Euro cotton unchanged: Cotlook, a Liverpool-based cotton information company, reported on Thursday that the underlying weakness of international shipment values for virtually all descriptions of upland cotton continue to deter buyers in Europe from anticipating their additional requirements in any significant volume. However, occasional transactions were under discussion notably in Italy, Belgium and Germany in central Asian and middle eastern medium/better qualities quoted for delivery around the turn of the year. Eastern Europe lacked new feature and long staple varieties were neglected.

Liffe wheat futures lower: Liffe wheat futures closed 50 pence lower Thursday, pressured by a rise in the value of the pound and slightly bearish European Union export tender results, said brokers. March wheat, which with 192 lots was the most actively traded contract, closed 50 pence down atGBP82.00 a metric ton. Brokers reported another quiet day with 369 lots traded. They added the rise in sterling weighed on prices, pushing levels 75 pence lower before shipper profit-taking regained 25 pence at the close. At 1655 GMT sterling traded at DEM2.8053, up from DEM2.7885 traded late in London Wednesday. A rise in the value of the pound makes UK goods more expensive to foreign buyers, hence UK shippers have to lower prices to remain competitive on export markets. Brokers also said results of the European Union's grain export tender Thursday were disappointing to the market.