Rajasthan farmers panic
With the monsoon getting delayed, the drought-hit cultivators in Rajasthan are getting panicky with regard to this year's kharif crops.

Duty hike hits edible oil imports
The share of refined edible oil import has gone down from 71 per cent to 34 per cent between January and May while that of crude edible oil has increased from 29 per cent to 66 per cent in the same period.

Commodity boards bail out tea growers
The Union commerce ministry has decidedto squeeze out Rs 10 crore from the budgets of the various commodity boards to fund a price subsidy scheme for small tea growers in south India.

Domestic cereal output
The country's cereal production can be enhanced by 80 per cent to about 360 million tpa from the current level of 205.9 million tpa by the year 2020, according to the projections made by the Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council under the Union ministry of science and technology.

Castor futures tumble
In the wake of heavy downpour in the North Gujarat and Saurashtra, castor prices plummeted across the board. September contract traded at the Ahmedabad Commodity Exchange hit the contract low as panic selling in the cash markets compelled bulls to liquidate their long positions in the futures.

Gujarat entrepreneurs eye South Africa
Even as South Africa offers tremendous scope for Indian companies to assist local `empowerment group' there, a consortium of stainless steel appliances manufacturers from Gujarat have identified certain small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs for joint venture in Mpumalanga Province.

New reasons for gold rally
The impending uncertainties surrounding the international gold market prices seem to be getting over, clearing the grounds for the July 12 Bank of England gold auction. Gold prices have behaved in a very volatile manner of late.

Domestic copper prices up
Domestic copper producers - Birla Copper, Sterlite and Hindustan Copper - have increased the prices of copper by Rs 3,500 per tonne with effect from July 1. Prices of copper cathode after the increase stand at Rs 1,18,000 per tonne and for continuous cast copper rods the price has been set at Rs 1,26,000 per tonne.

Excess output hits ferro chrome
Domestic high carbon ferro chrome prices have started falling with some ferro producers quoting even below Rs 22,000 per tonne. The average price is between Rs 22,000 to Rs 23,000 per tonne as against the previous Rs 24,000 to Rs 25,000 per tonne.

Direct fertiliser subsidy to farmers
Fertiliserr producers have asked the Centre to distribute subsidy directly to farmers and to stop using the industry as a channel to provide subsidised fertilisers.

Aventis CropScience roadshows
In a strategic move, the Indian arm of Aventis CropScience, offering total crop solutions, has decided to hold demonstration of their products in 100 to 200 mini farms of five to 10 acres each in different parts of the country during the current kharif season.

Chemical sector gears up
In a rapidly changing global market, India's chemicals industry should aim at becoming globally competitive rather than concentrate only in the domestic markets, said department of chemicals and petrochemicals joint secretary Shantanu Consul.

New cotton varieties released
The Central Institute for Cotton Research and various agricultural universities have released new high yielding medium staple and good fibre maturity varieties and hybrids of cotton for notification for cultivation in different cotton belts in the country.

Global cotton prices harden
In its latest up-date on world cotton situation, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has made marginal revisions in its projections of world cotton production and consumption during 2000-01. Interestingly, on the price front, the ICAC predicts a hardening of world cotton prices in 2000-01.

Proposal to restructure NTC
The Group of Ministers is likely to consider the proposal to restructure 119 mills of the public sector National Textile Corporation (NTC) next week, according to highly-placed official sources. Sources said that the textiles ministry had put forth a set of proposals including shutting down of the unviable units.