Union government has sanctioned Rs 21 crore for 1999-2000 for various development programmes of Coconut Development Board in the country. Announcing this, the board said the schemes implemented during the Eighth Plan would be continued and the quantum of subsidy under different programmes would remain the same. Production and distribution of planting materials, expansion of area under coconut, integrated farming in coconut holdings for productivity improvement, integrated control of leaf-eating caterpillar, coconut technology development, publication and extension activities and national information centre are the various schemes which would be implemented during this financial year.

Sugar production up

Domestic sugar production in May has recorded more than 100 per cent jump to 7.78 lakh tonnes from 3.61 lakh tonnes during the same period last year. With the bumper production in May, total sugar production during the current sugar year (October 1998-September1999) has reached 149.47 lakh tonnes as against 125.67 lakh tonnes during the corresponding period last year, National Federation of Sugar Factories Limited and Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said in a joint statement here. However, sugar dispatches from factories during may declined to 12.49 lakh tonnes (inclusive of 1.01 lakh tonnes of imported sugar) for domestic consumption as against 12.63 lakh tonnes (inclusive of 88,000 tonnes of imported sugar) for internal consumption and 17,000 tonnes for exports during the same month last year. Offtake of sugar till the end of may was 99.34 lakh tonnes including 6.06 lakh tonnes of imported sugar for internal consumption and 10,000 tonnes for export, the statement said.

Variable duty for edible oil sought

A differential duty structure for refined and crude edible oils would help domestic industry tide over the current crisis arising out of excess supply and depressed prices, Central Organisation for Oil, Industry and Trade (Cooit) said. "Thereshould be a lower differential duty on crude edible oils than on refined oils. It may be fixed at 15 per cent to enable better utilisation of indigenous processing capacity which is grossly under-utilised," Cooit president Govindbhai G Patel has said in a letter to the food ministry. In order to stem the large scale imports of refined edible oils, the organisation has demanded raising of import duty to 25 per cent from the current level of 15 per cent. Patel said lowering of import duty to 15 per cent from 25 per cent in july 1998 had resulted in fall in the decline of domestic prices by about 35 per cent.

Appeal against gold auction

The World Gold Council (WGC) lobby group will submit a petition against plans by the Bank of England to auction off 415 tonnes of the country's reserve gold, the Sunday Telegraph reported. The newspaper said the group would present the petition to chancellor of the exchequer (Finance Minister) Gordon Brown amid "overwhelming support" for its campaign. Thousands ofprotesters telephoned the group last week, causing its computer system to crash. Britain is due next Tuesday to sell 25 tonnes of its reserve gold in the first part of a move to slash holdings to 300 tonnes from 715 tonnes to achieve what it calls "a better balance in the (reserves) portfolio by increasing the proportion held in currency". A British jeweller is also taking the government to court in a last-ditch attempt to halt the auction.

Hong Kong gold extend losses

Hong Kong spot gold extended its losses on Monday, while spot silver remained unchanged. Bullion was quoted at $262.40/90 an ounce at midday, down from its opening price of $262.60/263.10. Spot silver ended at midday quoted at $5.28/31 per ounce, unchanged from the opening. Tael gold was at HK$2,429 per tael, up HK$1 from its opening at HK$2,428 per tael.

Metal prices register sharp rise In Mumbai, nickel prices firmed up sharply due to good demand from industries on the non-ferrous metal market here today. Copper scrap heavy,copper wire bar, copper utensils scrap, brass utensils scrap and brass scrap cutting also firmed up marginally. However, tin declined on lack of demand. Nickel shot up by Rs 4 to Rs 325 from Rs 321 and tin moved down by Rs 3 to Rs 374 from Rs 377.

--Reuters and agencies