Australianwheat prices eased: Milling wheat cash prices eased slightly again last week as harvest put more pressures on prices, AWB Ltd said in its weekly market report. Also, ASW and APW prices are coming under siege from the big volumes of GP and Feed wheat around on the east coast, it said. Feed grain markets remained quiet with prices easing last week as there is quite large volumes of feed available and plenty being held on farm, it said. Canola prices are still quite good in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia with about 70 percent of harvest completed. Victorian growers have been hit by lower than expected oil levels and damage from October's frosts, it said. Chickpeas are still in short supply with bids up over A$400 dollars a tonne, but demand for most pulses has fallen since most trade shorts have now been covered, AWB said. Shipments to the subcontinent for the Ramadan Festival have finished and it is not expected that prices will return to the high pre-harvest levels in the short tomedium term, it said.

Copper shows no sign of recovery: Copper futures were showing little sign of recovery in early trading in Australia on Monday after diving below $1,500 a tonne on Friday to fresh 11- year lows. Benchmark three-month London Metal Exchange (LME) copper was quoted at $1,477-$1,481/tonne at midday up $1 from the Friday afternoon kerb. Local metals dealers were divided on whether the long-battered copper market could muster enough investor support to yank prices back above $1,500 a tonne. It has been long known that Asian demand for copper was faltering and that China, once a big importer of copper, was turning seller, the dealer added. However, another dealer said technical support around current levels might provide a respite from chart-driven selling, opening a path for a price rally of sorts. Otherwise the price could drop to $1,450/tonne before intersecting the next technical support point, the dealer added.

Shanghai copper eases: Shanghai copper futures traded sharplylower in the first hour on Monday following steep losses on world markets on Friday, traders said. The benchmark three-month February 1999 contract stood at 15,120 yuan ($1,826) per tonne one hour after trading, down 130 yuan from Friday's close. It opened at 15,120 and traded between 15,150 and 15,050. The most active April contract lost 150 yuan to 15,270. "Shanghai copper followed London and New York lower," a trader said. Comex copper prices also finished sharply lower, with the March contract hitting lifetime lows for the sixth time in eight trading days.

Timor Sea crude output resumes: Crude oil production from the Jabiru and Challis fields in the Timor Sea off the coast of Western Australia would resume from Monday afternoon, a spokesman for Gulf Canada Resources Ltd said. The spokesman said the Jabiru floating oil rig had returned to the field once the threat from Cyclone Thelma had passed. The vessel was expected to be reconnected late on Monday as choppy seas abated. He said a crew had alsoreturned to the Challis oil rig to conduct a safety inspection on Monday, with production expected to resume on Tuesday. The two fields in the Bonaparte Basin produce around 15,000 barrels per day. Production ceased last week as the category five Cyclone Thelma caused strong winds and heavy seas.

Kepco buys low sulphur fuel oil: The Korean Electric Power Co (Kepco) has bought 72,000 tonnes of 0.3 per cent low sulphur fuel oil for January delivery at $74.30 per tonne, a Kepco official said on Monday. The purchase was done through a tender. The tender, which closed on December 14, sought a 72,000-tonne cargo for January 12-15 delivery into Ulsan. Kepco imports at least 72,000 tonnes of low sulphur fuel oil per month on a tender basis for its Ulsan power plant.

Taiwan to sell gas oil: Taiwan's state-owned Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) has issued a tender to sell gas oil for January 24-30 lifting, a company official said on Monday. The tender, which closes December 16 and carries a two-dayvalidity, offers a 225,000 to 250,000-barrel cargo of 0.5-percent sulphur gas oil to be sold on either an free-on-board (fob) Kaohsiung or cost-and-freight (C-and-F) Singapore basis. When asked why the company had added the option of aC-and-F Singapore basis instead of just the usual fob Kaohsiung, the official said it was an attempt to diversify selling practices. "We're just going to try it", the official said. In its last tender, CPC sold two cargoes for second half December lifting at an average discount of 40 cents per barrel to Singapore prices, a CPC official said.

Opec basket price up: The price of the Opec basket of seven crudes rose to $9.26 a barrel on Friday from $9.13 a barrel on Thursday, the Opec news agency said quoting the Opec secretariat. The basket comprises Algeria's Saharan Blend, Indonesia's Minas, Nigeria's Bonny Light, Saudi Arabian Light, Dubai of the UAE, Venezuela's Tia Juana and Mexico's Isthmus.

NWE oil products mixed: NWE oil products prices were steady tofirmer in early trade on Monday. Traders said outright gas oil prices edged $2 higher in line with gains on benchmark gas oil futures and firmer US unleaded gasoline futures in ACCESS trade had steadied gasoline prices.

Australian wool may close strong: The Australian wool market is likely to close on a strong note at the end of the week which begins the three week Christmas recess, woolbroker Wesfarmers Dalgety said on Monday. The wool market's basically unchanged tone last week, with the eastern market indicator rising by one cent to 508 cents a kg, was encouraging for the week to come, Wesfarmers said. Prices could well rise early in the week due to the pressure on the market from a larger offering, it said. "Overall the final sale before Christmas this week is expected to hold quite well despite the larger offering," Bob Quirk of the Australian Council of Wool Exporters said. Chinese interest has remained in the market with business being done into 1999. Trading activity was also coming fromsmaller markets such as Taiwan, Wesfarmers said. European interest had been quiet lately but was expected to return to the market next week, it said. The sales continue this week in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle with 103,932 bales rostered for sale.

Centre to bring more land under tea: The central government proposes to bring 20,000 hectares of land in the non-traditional areas under tea cultivation in the Ninth Plan, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Monday. Responding to supplementaries during question hour, agriculture minister Som Pal said the government has taken several measures for increasing production of tea and its export. During the Ninth Plan, the "new tea unit financing scheme" has been merged with "new area development scheme" for tea plantation in non-traditional areas other than the north-east, Som Pal, who deputised commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde, said. A sum of Rs.19.93 crore in the form of loan and subsidy has been disbursed so far for undertaking tea plantation over an areaof 4991.39 hectares in non-traditional areas, he said. Stating that domestic consumption of tea in the country had registered a four percent increase annually, he said the consumption rose from 595 million kg in 1995 to 618 million kg in 1996 and 640 million kg in 1997.

Inro rubber prices flat: The International Natural Rubber Organisation (Inro) once again ignored the Indonesian rubber market on Monday, further deepening the market's weak sentiment, traders said. Inro bought 500 tonnes of SMR20 rubber in Malaysia on Monday for January/February shipment, Malaysian traders said. "Day-by-day, we think that we just cannot trust Inro. Even if it buys rubber from Malaysia, it seems to be for political reasons...so that the country will stay with the group," said one trader in Padang, in Indonesia's West Sumatra province. Traders said Inro bought small quantities of Indonesian rubber last week from overseas dealers and not directly from local traders. They said January rubber for SIR20 was quoted at 25.00US cents/lb fob Medan, Palembang, Surabaya, Pontianak, Palembang and Jambi. The Inro group last bought 8,000 tonnes of Indonesian rubber in September for November shipment.