"It's the number one priority here, for all our markets,not just the agriculture floors." Brennan, an independent soybean trader who unseated longtime chairman Patrick Arbor committed to the CBOT's time-honoured open outcry system. He repeated earlier statements that open outcry and electronic trading integrated together can provide an efficient market. Brennan was a vocal opponent of the plan, citing concerns over costs and control of the franchise, but he said Friday he would not rule out links with Eurex or other entities in the future.

Australian wheat sales progress: Australia shipped 263,142 tonne of wheat in the week ended February 12, AWB Ltd figures show. This increased shipments in the shipping year, which began on October 1, to 5.8 million tonne. This is down from the 6.2 million tonne shipped at the same time last year. Australia's domestic milling wheat market remained very quiet, AWB said in its weekly grain market report. The increase in AWB's pool price estimates in the past week was a decision which went against prevailing sentiment, itsaid. In feedgrains, rain in Queensland and northern New South Wales has reduced the sorghum harvest to a stop-start affair, it said.

Prices have hardly moved, although US corn prices have found some support at current levels, it said. This was encouraging for sorghum values. With a bumper crop still in the offing little change was expected in domestic market conditions, AWB said. Canadian canola seemed to have found support at around the mid C$320 range and this had helped stabilise Australian prices for new crop canola, it said. Trade was expected be volatile over coming months. Delivered port Victoria prices remained around A$319 a tonne for new crop, with old crop demand now starting to evaporate, it said. The Australian pulses market was illiquid, with lack of domestic options exacerbated by the Subcontinent crop which was now being harvested. Little export demand was predicted until after that crop was harvested and sold, it said.

Kerala opposes plantation imports: Kerala government hasurged the Centre to exclude plantation crops, including tea and rubber, from a free trade list to be agreed with Sri Lanka, state officials said on Saturday. Senior state official Sreedharan Nampoothiripad said that the state had told the federal government that free importation of rubber, tea, spices and coconut would hurt Indian growers. Plantation crops including tea, coffee, rubber and cardamom account for 46 per cent of the cultivated area in Kerala and contributed 41 per cent of the India's production of such products, the official said. Coconut accounts for 45 per cent of the state's crop area and is a major factor in bringing prosperity to rural Kerala, he said. India and Sri Lanka signed a free trade agreement during a visit to New Delhi by Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga last month. Under the agreement, India will cut import tariffs on most goods from Sri Lanka by 50 per cent upfront, and phase out all tariffs in three years, while Sri Lanka would cut tariffs by 35 per cent within threeyears and eliminate them in eight years. Indian tea traders have already protested at the proposal to allow duty-free imports of tea from Sri Lanka, one of the world's largest producers. Tea imported from Sri Lanka is currently subject to 19 per cent duty. Sri Lanka produced 104.2 million kg of rubber and 2.6 billion coconuts in 1998.