Union cabinet on Tuesday approved the commerce ministry's proposal of India joining the Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC). Briefing reporters after the hour-long cabinet meeting, information and broadcasting minister Pramod Mahajan said India would sign and ratify the ACPC agreement following the cabinet clearance. ``The Indian high commissioner in the UK, Lalit Mansingh, has been asked to sign the agreement,''he said.

The decision had been kept pending by the cabinet for quite sometime after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government lost the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on April 17 by a solitary vote. Views of key departments like finance ministry and planning commission were ascertained before the commerce ministry placed the note before the cabinet. The ACPC was floated by leading coffee producing countries like Brazil and Colombia in 1989 after ending the retention system.

Drought hits Assam tea industry

The Assam teaindustry has been worst affected this season by the unprecedented drought-like situation in the state since 1904 sharply decreasing its production by 32 per cent during April and May last, according to a spokesman of the industry. The dry spell reduced the state's average annual tea production of 420 million kg from over 870 gardens by nearly 134 million kg seriously affecting the economy of the state as well as country which produced only 53.37 million kg of finished tea during the two months.

The spokesman told PTI in Tezpur on Tuesday that even a tea major like the Williamson Magor, which has 45 tea estates in the N-E region, produced only 3.3 million kg tea in the state. The tea industry was also plagued by large-scale theft of green leaves from garden areas, particularly in the southern Assam districts, by suspected tea packaging factories with no tea gardens of their own.

Plans to boost coffee demand

India plans to boost domestic demand for coffee as the world outlook remains bearish, `TheFinancial Times' reported on Tuesday. It said the country's Coffee Board had prepared a plan to promote coffee in the domestic market. The board has also set up a committee to come up with an export promotion strategy, the paper said. In its pre-blossom output estimate in March, the board forecast an all-time record crop of 289,939 tonnes of coffee for the 1999-2000 season.

Exports rose to a record 207,266 tonnes in 1998-1999, compared with 179,059 tonnes the previous year. India produces about four per cent of the world's coffee and exports 75 per cent of output.

Agro-climatic zonal offices

The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to set up nine agro-climatic zonal offices with a view to ensure implementation of programmes for improving agriculture. Under the two-tier system of governance, which would start functioning from July 1, the divisional-level offices of the agriculture department have been wound up and administrative and financial levels of the divisional level decentralised atdistrict levels, an official release said in Bhopal.

Agro-climatic zone offices are being established for facilitating preparation of crop plans in accordance with the specific climate and increasing interventions of the scientists in the implementation of these plans in a more effective manner. The district-wise crop plans for the kharif season have already been drawn up and their implementation has also commenced in time.

Trading in Gulf crudes slow

Trading in Gulf crudes was slow on Tuesday with market players awaiting the results of Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) tender to buy August-loading Middle East crudes, traders said.

There were few fresh deals done for Gulf crudes, although two separate traders were believed to have sold cargoes of August Oman to a South Korean refiner at a premium of six cents per barrel above the OSP. One of the sellers was believed to be a Japanese trading house. CPC is seeking between one million and two million barrels of Oman, one million barrels ofBasrah Light, and 900,000 or 1.8 million barrels of Masila. The tender will close at 1600 GMT on June 28, with offers valid until 1000 GMT on June 30, traders said.

HK spot gold slightly firm

Hong Kong spot gold was slightly firmer at midday on Tuesday from the opening, while spot silver remained unchanged. Bullion was quoted at US$260.50/261.00 an ounce at midday, up from its opening price of US$260.20/70. Spot silver ended at midday quoted at US$5.12/15 per ounce,unchanged from the opening. Tael gold at midday was at HK$2,410 per tael, up HK$3 from its opening at HK$2,407 per tael.