Greenhouse farming lucrative
Because of the heavy capital expenditure involved in the building and maintaining of green houses, they are largely used for high value-added crops or floriculture. Nevertheless, the growers and planters all over the world are seeking methods to streamline their operations and make them more cost-effective. In reality greenhouse is well-suited for small farms and where there are constraints on available land and water.

Pestthreat on coconut plantations
Coconut farmers in Kerala are in dire-straits following a new wave of pest attack on coconut palms which threatens to reduce the coconut output by more than 50 per cent to nil in the affected areas. The problem confined to Kerala till now has also started spreading to neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Cardamom prices hold steady
Indian cardamom has made a big comeback in the international market with buyers from the Middle East destinations and Japan trying to get a big share of the Indian produce. Despite Guatemalan cardamom quoting at much lower dollar rates than Indian cardamom in the international market, inferior quality is keeping buyers away from Guatemalan cardamom, trade sources said here.

Pepper short-sellers in a spot
A clutch of pepper exporters, who short sold their position in the international market at a discount earlier, is likely to find their way out from the business as pepper prices shows no signs of immediate cooling downon the back of tight supply situation in almost all other producing nations.

Heavy rains hit Vietnam coffee plantationsHeavy rains hit Vietnam coffee
Heavy rains hit Vietnam's key coffee region of Daklak province last week, compounding fears that the current harvest will be plagued by further delays, officials said. "There has been heavy rains, harder than the last week," said one official in Buon Ma Thuot, the provincial capital.

Gold down, silver falls by over 30%
The much awaited Pushya Nakhtra discouraged the bullion trade as demand for the gold was barley 40 per cent against last year. Silver demand was relatively good, however it also fell by 30 per cent.

Low output sans demand won't aid steel
Shortage of steel may become a reality in the world markets, if the production remains low for another few months. But as the World Steel Dynamics says, the same may be only for a `short-age' that is for a while. Right. The absence of a genuine increase in consumption andquicker-than-expected supply adjustment may not allow the world prices of steel to move up much. The drop in supply had definitely pushed prices up, much of it also due to speculation, apart from panic purchase. None of these factors is going to last long.

Rise in global nickel lift local prices
Thanks to the fresh rise in the global nickel prices, the domestic prices of this metal soared to the new high of Rs 47,500 a tonne. The rally is likely to prove a Dipavali bonanza to the nickel importers in the country. According to an analyst at Vadilal Industries, Satish Khandelwal, nickel prices which were ruling near 6,500 level in October 1997, declined to 4,000 in October 1998.

NCCL opposes 40% price hike in diesel
The National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) has opposed the centre's recent decision to hike diesel price by whopping 40 per cent, especially when there are several pool accounts levied by the Oil Coordination Committee (OCC) or the ministry of petroleum & natural gas(MOPNG) to offset resultant losses due to periodic rise in international crude oil prices.

Crude may firm up again: Opec minister
Oman's oil minister last week said that OPEC adherence to output cuts was around 90 per cent. "This was the best level of compliance in the history of the cartel," Oil Minister Mohammad bin Hamad Seif-al-Remhi was quoted as saying to a newspaper in Dubai.

Gold prices witness record rally
Gold prices witnessed record rally after early easyness on the bullion market during the concluding Hindu Samvat year 2055. Silver prices also bounced back during the year and settled above Rs 8,000-mark per kg.

Cotton futures trading picks up at EICA
Cotton futures trading at The East India Cotton Association (EICA) has picked up substantially since beginning of October. The volume of daily trading at 100-150 units is ten times higher than the trading of 10-15 units a day since the inception of futures on December 5, 1998.

Gujarat ginners wary of southernmills
Exhausted by credit defaults by southern textile mills, leading Gujarat-based ginners have decided not to deal with the south-based textile mills in the current cotton season.