Tea imports from Sri Lanka decline
Tea imports from Sri Lanka have declined considerably in the current year compared to last year. The year 2000 is nearing its end, but the total volume of tea import from the island country stood at 0.3 mkg in January-September as against 2.9 mkg during the corresponding period of 1999. The controller of licensing HN Dwivedi said the volume of import from Sri Lanka had been projected at 11.25 mkg at the beginning of the year in accordance with the trade agreement among the Saarc countries.

`Chemvision 2000' next month
Chemical Industries Association (CIA) is organising `Chemvision 2000,' a three-day brainstorming session on new trends in chemical industry here next month. The seminar to be attended by around 120-150 delegates from all around the country will be held during December 20-22. The seminar will cover varied topics like investment in chemical projects: methodology and approach, molecules to market, herbal genomics and naturoceuticals, patents, ETO and IPR, opportunities for technology exports, biotechnology, bioinformatics and enzymes, nanochemicals and technology and IT in chemical industry.

lead prices seen lower
A build-up of lead inventories as production outpaces demand will weigh on the metal's price next year, Commonwealth Bank of Australia said on Friday.

A recent drop in London Metal Exchange refined lead stock levels was insufficient to compensate for an increase by 50,000 tonnes in the first two weeks of October, which points to growing supply imbalance, CBA said in a report. "October's sharp rise in stocks suggested that much of the 109,000 tonne fall in LME stocks since May is likely to have been due to removing material off warrant to less transparent locations rather than for end-use consumption," CBA said.

Egypt to invest $10 bn in petrochem
Egypt's oil ministry has drawn up a plan to invest $10 billion in petrochemical projects over the next 20 years, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) said on Friday. MENA quoted oil minister Sameh Fahmy as saying the projects would produce 15 million tonnes a year of petrochemicals worth about $7 billion. This would cover local needs now met by imports and would allow exports worth $3 billion a year. Refiners in quandry over diesel switchA trend away from petrol to diesel powered vehicles in Europe could pose large costs for oil firms reconfiguring their refineries, analysts said on Friday. The scale of the task facing refiners is complicated by a trend towards fuel-efficient cars cutting petrol and diesel consumption and governments skewing tax structures to favour diesel. Western European demand for diesel-powered cars in 1997 was 22.3 percent of the total. In 1998 that figure rose to 24.8 and last year it reached 28.4 percent, automobile industry sources said.

Global online grain platform unveiled
Grain industry giants Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Cenex Harvest States and Louis Dreyfus said on Wednesday that they formed an Internet-based cash market for trading grains, called Pradium. Chemicals and seed giant DuPont is also a founding investor in the joint venture, which plans to debut its first nine virtual trading "pits" within 90 days, the companies said in a statement. Financial terms were not disclosed. Internet-related agriculture sites for farmers have sprouted by the dozens with the growth of the Web.

Cotton yarn exports to miss target
Prospects for attaining the current year's target for the export of cotton yarn have turned bleak. Not only that, there are now serious doubts whether even the last year's much lower level of exports (compared to this target) would be reached this year. The sharp decline in tempo of shipments particularly in the second quarter of the current year has affected the outlook.

Leather exports pick up momentum
The uptrend in the export of leather and leather products from the beginning of this financial year has continued to July, according to the statistics now available. The Council for Leather Exports (CLE) sources say the trend is gaining further momentum and the prospects for further growth are bright.

The year is expected to close with an export turnover of $1.9 billion.

Two notable factors conspicuous in the latest statistics compiled by the market research unit of CLE, based on the data supplied by DGCIS, Calcutta, are the emergence of US as the leading buyer of Indian leather and products and the declining share of the southern region, comprising mostly Tamil Nadu, in exports.

Dairy managemant workshop in Anand
A South-South International Workshop on `Small holders dairy production and marketing - opportunities and constraints', to be held at Anand (Gujarat) from March 13 to 16 is scheduled to discuss the issue pecuilar to developing nations. The workshop has been jointly organised by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and Ethiopia-based International Livestock Research Centre to be attended by delegates from 13 countries.

DuPont India introduces `Avaunt'
DuPont India, a Rs 500-crore subsidiary of $27-bn global science company, focusing on agricultural products in India with a target of Rs 50 crore in the current year, has simultaneously introduced newly invented `Avaunt,' an insecticide for controlling American Bollworm (Heliothis) in cotton as well as Diamond Backmoth (DM) in cabbage. A product of the new chemistry called `Oxadiazine,' it is superior to currently available insecticides.

Its low use rate provides safety to workers in the field as well as field animals and birds, claims DuPont ASEAN external affairs manager Alan Rego.

GM maize seed registration shaky
Britain's plans to register genetically modified (GM) maize seed on the national seed list have hit stormy waters after the farm ministry revealed that test data may not meet minimum legal requirements. Environmental group `Friends of Earth' described the government's admission as "yet another humiliating blow to the biotech industry and their backers in the government". "This fiasco has only come to light because Friends of theEarth and ordinary members of the public forced the government to hold a public hearing on the listing of this GM seed," Peter Roderick, Friends of the Earth's legal advisor said in a statement.

Malaysian palmoil futures down
Malaysian Palmoil futures gave back their morning gains and closed lower on Thursday as the market was dragged down by talk that India would announce a hike in import duties on edible oils very soon, traders said. "Therewas talk that India may announce the increase in duties as early as tomorrow, and people started selling," said one trader. But some late short covering helped lift prices off the day's lows by the close. The benchmark third-month January futures KPOF1 contract ended down 5 ringgit at 854 ringgit ($224.74) a tonne after trading as low as 847. Short covering and overnight gains in Chicago soyoil future shade pushed up the contract to a morning high of 876 ringgit. Traders said a hike in the Indian import duties would not surprise them. "An increase has been widely expected but what is unclear is by how much the duty will rise," a trader said.