The Centre has released a total quota of 25 lakh tonne of sugar for free sale in domestic market for the period October-December this year. Nine lakh tonne of sugar for October and eight lakh tonne each for the months of November and December as quotas for indigenous free sale has been released. With 3.69 lakh tonne of levy sugar quota released for each of these months, the total quantity of sugar available for internal consumption would be 12.69 lakh tonne for the month of October, 11.69 lakh tonne for November and 11.69 lakh tonne for December. The free sale quotas meant for internal consumption and with enough stocks available in hand, the government is in a position to release more sugar in case the situation so warrants.

Jordan buys 1,50,000 tonne barley

Jordan bought on Thursday 1,50,000 tonne of optional-origin feed barley at between $120 and $121 per tonne cost and freight, European grain traders said. Traders said the barley was likely to come from the European Union. Some traders said the barley would be shipped in October, while others said Jordan had bought the barley for shipment in October and November. Jordan had originally tendered to buy 1,00,000 tonne of barley for shipment in October.

South Korean firm seeks wheat

South Korea's Daehan Flour Mills Co Ltd has invited tenders to buy 20,000 tonnes of US No 1 wheat by 2 p.m. (0500 GMT) on Friday, traders said. They said the tenders would be split into four lots -- 12,100 tonne of western white/soft white wheat (protein minimum 10 per cent), 800 tonne of western white/club wheat, 3,100 tonne of hard red winter wheat (protein minimum 11.5 per cent) and 4,000 tonnes of dark northern spring wheat (protein minimum 14 per cent). Shipment was set for November 20-December 20 to the western port of Inchon. Daehan on Wednesday passed on tenders to buy the same amount of wheat for the same shipment and arrival.

AWB concerned over wheat tenders

Australia's national wheat exporter AWB Ltd said on Thursday it was concerned that recent Egyptian government wheat tenders had invited only US suppliers to bid. AWB chairman Trevor Flugge said in a statement that in a series of meetings with the Egyptian government and grains buyers last week he had been assured Egypt would purchase Australian wheat in the future. Australia was a strategic supplier of high quality wheat to the Egyptian market and had developed a longstanding relationship with the market over the past 25 years, he said. AWB sold 8,40,000 tonnes of Australian Standard White wheat to the Egyptian government in 1998/99, 20 percent of its total purchases, AWB said. AWB planned to build on its long history of trade with Egypt. "We're becoming more involved with our customers within Egypt through investments such as the Five Star Flour Mill at Suez," Flugge said.

New pricing mechanism for gas

Pakistan has proposed a new pricing mechanism to gas producers for buying new discoveries that offers a minimum price but caps increases caused by higher international oil prices, a senior government official said. Gas company sources say they were willing to discuss the formula with the government but want the pricing floor to be inflation indexed. Industry analysts have said if the dispute over what the government is willing to pay for gas is not resolved, it could end up mirroring the fight with foreign-backed independent power producers where a tariff row has hurt the investment climate.

Japan aluminium steady

In Tokyo, aluminium spot premiums for Japan on a CIF basis were little changed on last Wednesday with few deals reported after Japanese buyers and foreign suppliers settled term premiums for the October-December shipments late last month, traders said. "I have not heard any deals as far as CIF Japan spot aluminium trades are concerned," said a trader. On a CIF basis, spot aluminium premiums were quoted at around $78-$80 per tonne over London Metal Exchange (LME) cash prices. Traders said Japanese aluminium users are currently covering requirements for delivery in the October-December period and premiums for domestic users have risen above $75 per tonne.