Floriculture in India has enormous potential to support its economy with the introduction of large- scale protective cultivation techniques, Wilfred Baudoin of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Rome, said in Bangalore on Monday. Addressing a FAO assisted regional floriculture workshop on ``greenhouse floriculture technology for small- scale farmers project,'' Baudoin said with the country's population nearing the one billion mark, floriculture, apart from supporting the country's economy, could also generate employment. He said small and medium floriculture farmers, who wanted to improve their productivity, could be identified and given training on cost effective green house technologies. The workshop was jointly organised by the union ministry of agriculture and the Karnataka state department of horticulture. Deputy commissioner (horticulture), government of India, BK Gayathri, said though the country had a vast potential for floriculturedevelopment, except for a few pockets like Karnataka, floriculture remained an unorganised activity.

Pdexcil marketing cell

The Powerloom Development and Export Promotion Council (Pdexcil) is setting up a marketing cell to provide information about the requirement of export markets to its members who do not participate in direct exports. Action would be initiated to promote textile exports in a big way and induce members to participate in the export and develop good quality as well as valued products, council chairman MS Mathivanan said in a release in Coimbatore on Monday. Besides appointing a marketing consultant, two export packages-one for the new entrants and the other for those who were already in the business-would be created with information based on the market study, details of market requirement and quality standards, the release said. The cell would consist of information centres to provide details of the items in demand and export requirements. Details of various fabrics produced byweavers would also be provided to enable buyer and seller to get information to establish direct dealings between them.

Gold slips in thin European trade

Gold slipped through $260.00 an ounce in thin European trade on Monday after a report that central bankers had criticised Britain's gold sales policy for having increased pressure on them to sell, dealers said. Spot gold dropped to $259.10/$259.60 ahead of the London morning fix, down $1.10 on its European opening, after a Financial Times (FT) report on a central bankers meeting in Basle, Switzerland. ``The FT story has not helped this morning in what is a quiet market,'' said one London dealer who added that late Friday data showing a fall in COMEX short positions was also bearish. The newspaper report said central bankers at a Group of 10 nations meeting warned Britain its plan to sell more than half its reserve of gold might lead to an unwelcome wider debate about gold's role as a reserve asset.``This is nothing new. Gold is a topic that'scertainly coming up in (central bank) board-level discussions, when it hadn't done before,'' the dealer added. Gold fell from near $290 in early May after Britain announced plans to sell 415 tonnes of gold in the coming years, hitting 20-year lows below $253.00 after the first 25-tonne sale in July.

Oil slides in Asia

Oil in Asia was sliding on Monday after prices reached fresh 22-month highs on Friday. New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) September crude futures were down 14 cents at $21.53 per barrel on the out-of-hours ACCESS trading at 0900 GMT. October Brent crude futures on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX) fell 10 cents at $20.40. September Brent futures, which expire later in London trading, were unquoted and untraded in Asia. Prices jumped to new 22-month highs in both London and New York on Friday but selling started before the markets closed on that day. NYMEX September crude closed at $21.67, down from the intraday high of $21.93, while September Brent settled at$20.69 after trading at $21.00. Traders said the selling continued in Asia on Monday, although at a moderate pace. With prices having doubled this year from the 12-year lows last December, traders said both NYMEX and Brent crude futures were ripe for profit- taking.