Iraq on November 19 rejected a UN Security Council's 14-day extension of the oil programme which allowed Iraq to sell $5.26 billion worth of crude over six months to buy food and medicine for its people. Baghdad described the extension as impractical and a US manoeuvre to prolong the existing nine-year-old UN trade sanctions imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Washington has proposed following up a two-week extension of the UN oil programme arrangement with another of perhaps as little as a week to allow world powers more time to thrash out changes to broad UN sanctions.Baghdad rejected the new proposal.

Flour millers stir
The imposition of 50 per cent customs duty on wheat will discourage imports in the wake of the burgeoning buffer stocks. The worst affected from this decision will be the mills in the non wheat growing states for whom imports came as a boom, said Maharashtra Roller Flour Millers Association (MRFMA) president Nandlal Wadhwa. The mill-owners have decided to go on a token strike from December 3 and if the government does not solve the issue, they will proceed on an indefinite strike.

The duty will adversely affect the manufacturing activities of flour mills increasing the price of wheat by at least Rs 70 per quintal and in turn increasing the price of maida, the main raw material for pav (bread) which can increase to Rs 3 per pav from Rs 1.50. The association requested the Maharashtra chief minister to take up the issue with the Centre. Trade observers said there will not be much of an impact as FCI has reduced wheat prices. But, the supply of FCI wheat (C&D category) is found to be 30 per cent damaged in quality which is unsuitable for wheat products.

AP to develop poultry chain
Andhra Pradesh government has plans to develop poultry value chain through investments by large integrated companies, according to chief minister N chandrababu naidu. The investments would be in almost all parts of the chain, including production of high yield feed inputs and feed to increase the poultry exports, Naidu said while speaking after inaugurating IXth Animal Nutrition conference inb Hyderabad on Thursday. Naidu said presently the state enjoys number one position in poultry sector in the country. There were about five crore layers, 10 crore broilers with an egg production of 3.5 crore per day, nearly one-third of the country's total egg output, in the state, he said.

`Because of the intensive poultry activity in the state, skilled labour was abundantly available and state would now act to convert these into its strengths in the domestic and world poultry market', the chief minister said. The main objective of `Vision-2020' document in animalhusbandry was to consolidate the gains made and transform this sector into profitable livestock agriculture business to further strengthen the rural economy.

Pakistan rice prices stabilise
The bearish trend in Pakistani rice prices seems to have bottomed out this week but dealers on Thursday said a lack of fresh demand will keep them at current levels. "There is very little demand for Pakistani rice, in fact globally there is less demand," said a Karachi-based rice exporter.

Commodity analysts have also predicted a fall in global rice trade because of better weather in Asia and bumper crops in South America. The exporter said the lack of demand would keep prices downbut a further fall was unlikely. He said only two ships were expected to berth at the KarachI port in the next week, carrying 20,000 tonnes of IRRI rice for African countries.

"Apart from that, there are no queries," he said. Demand for Basmati rice is also slow, except for a recent 20,000 tonnes shipment to Oman, dealers said.