The West Bengal Consultative Committee of Plantation Association (WBCCPA) convener NK Basu has said that there was urgent need for flood control measures in the tea gardens areas in the region before things went out of hand in the coming monsoon. WBCCPA, representing six tea planting associations in the region, expressed concern over the perennial problems of the gardens caused by floods, landslides, erosion and avulsion every year.

Basu said as per estimates about Rs 100 crore were lost by the tea gardens because of vagaries of weather in 1998 and urged the West Bengal government and flood control commission to take protecting measures before the coming monsoon. He said about one hundred tea gardens in Dooars, Terai and Darjeeling division in north Bengal have been subjected to severe floods, erosion and landslides every year but the affected gardens did not receive any attention from the flood control commission for remedial measures despite severalrepresentations from the planting communities.

Cocoa tumbles to new lows

Cocoa prices spiralled lower on last Tuesday on world markets, as the friendless market found few buyers willing to buy beans at current levels. The market hit new life-of-contract lows and traders said there was no support on the horizon. The only thing you can guarantee is that it will stop at zero, and probably before that... It doesn't appear that manufacturers are awfully keen to buy," said a cocoa analyst. Another agricultural commodity -- sugar -- was in focus as well, as experts called for the industry to work together and tackle the problem of low prices.

There needs to be a "gentleman's agreement" on cutting surplus production otherwise there is the risk of a "bloodbath" and widespread bankruptcies, said analysts.

`Xinjiang's cotton seeds are of low quality'

Most of the cotton seeds produced in China's largest cotton producing region of Xinjiang are of low quality, the official Xinhua news agency said.The north west region produced the worst quality seeds owing to its low standards of seed breeding techniques, it quoted a recent ministry of agriculture survey as saying. Xinjiang is China's largest cotton producer and produces one-third of the nation's cotton output. The survey found 10 out of 40 cotton seed strains produced in Xinjiang and the north eastern provinces of Hebei, Shangdong, Jiangsu, Henan, Anhui, Hebei were sub-standard, Xinhua said.

HK gold opens slightly firmer

Hong Kong spot gold opened slightly firmer in early Wednesday trading after prices slipped in New York overnight. Bullion opened at $270.70/271.20 an ounce against New York's $270.40/90 close on last Tuesday and Hong Kong's previous close of $273.00/50. "Gold fell to a 20-year low overnight after Bank of England governor Eddie George defended the plan for Britian to sell off a lot of its gold reserves," a local trading house dealer said. "There's been a little bit of short-covering interest this morning, but the price ofgold remains under pressure," the dealer added.

China allocates Japan 400,000t June Daqing

China National United Oil Corp (Chinaoil) has allocated about 4,00,000 tonnes of Daqing crude to Japanese buyers for June lifting, traders said on Wednesday. The allocated volume was about 35 per cent below the nominated volume of 6,16,000 tonnes. Shenzhen B shares were down at noon on profits. "Shenzhen needs to correct from this week's gains, and Guangdong Enterprises gave people a good reason," a Guotai Securities analyst said. He added that sharply lower turnover indicated that most of the sellers had already unwound their positions and there was limited scope for further losses. The market had not reacted to news that a US congressional report had concluded that China obtained secret information on nuclear weapons, analysts said.

Robust oils outlook saps new crop

French oilseeds were mostly flat on last Tuesday as weak fundamentals kept the lid on European edible oils and overshadowed reportsof healthy export activity in new crop rapeseed.

Traders said short covering by exporters was propping up new crop French rapeseed ahead of the shipment of 2,00,000-3,50,000 tonnes of rapeseed to non-EU destinations including China, India and Mexico in July and August. But gloomy fundamentals in edible oils, including a forecast rise in Malaysian palm oil output, looked set to curb any gains in seed prices for several weeks yet, analysts said. "Oils are very weak under pressure from palm oil. Demand just isn't rising as much as supply, not only in Malaysia but globally and that's causing a continued erosion in seeds," said one.