Reuters Daily Agriculture Brief 220409

SNAPSHOT:

Financial Crisis - 1115 GMT
- British finance minister Darling will deliver the gloomiest budget in a generation, with borrowing at a record high and the economy shrinking at its fastest pace since World War Two.
- China declared its economy has already hit bottom, but wealthy nations saw few signs that the global crisis would end soon in the debt-laden Western world.
- Japanese exports showed a rare sign of recovery in March, government figures showed, suggesting the global slump in trade that has pushed the economy into a deep recession may be easing.

FIRST ON REUTERS:

Reuters alone on massive grain imports into Europe
Reuters correspondent Valerie Parent gave clients the inside track with key data showing that the European Union had allowed the import of more than 500,000 tonnes of wheat into the bloc, clearing the full Q2 volume available under its main import quota. The news confirmed strong competition from other origins, mainly Black Sea, for feed wheat in import-hungry southern Europe and was unmatched by Dow Jones or Bloomberg.

GRAINS:

US corn, wheat firm as weather offsets dollar rise
PARIS/SINGAPORE, April 22 (Reuters) - Chicago corn and wheat futures were higher as concerns about U.S. planting weather outweighed pressure from a rising dollar.
"As wet conditions continue in the United States, disrupting spring sowings, drought in Ukraine and the wider Black Sea region could soon become a focus of attention," French consultancy Agritel said in a note.

South Korea reviews early opening of rice market
SEOUL, April 22 (Reuters) - South Korea is considering scrapping its rice import quota to fully open its market earlier than the 2015 schedule, as it anticipates little increase in imports due to high global prices of the grain, the farm ministry said on Wednesday.
South Korea is obliged to gradually open its rice market and currently imports only a small amount to meet its import quota under a World Trade Organisation agreement, which will be in place until 2014.

Vietnam frees part of blocked rice cargo -shipper
HANOI, April 22 (Reuters) - Vietnam has allowed a rice export company to load 53,500 tonnes for East Timor and Africa blocked by the authorities since late February, a trading company official said on Wednesday.
The Vietnam Food Association has in total halted the shipment of 120,000 tonnes of rice, including 43,500 tonnes bound for Africa, citing violations of export rules, in a move the shipper has said could lead to serious delays and trade disputes.

China imports 27,156 T wheat in March -Customs
BEIJING, April 22 (Reuters) - China, the world's largest wheat consumer, imported 27,156 tonnes of wheat in March from Australia, official figures showed on Wednesday. The amount fell from February's imports of 91,476 tonnes but was up from zero in the year-ago period.
Imports for the first three months of the year were 121,063 tonnes. China imported no wheat in the first three months of last year.

EDIBLE OIL/OILSEEDS:

Asian palm at 1-week closing high on supply concerns
KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose 1.6 percent to the highest close in a week, rebounding from falls a day earlier as worries about tight global vegetable oil supplies re-surfaced, traders said.
"Every day people talk about low stocks and good demand, so whatever news like Russian cutting palm oil imports (is) having no impact," said a trader at a Kuala Lumpur-based brokerage.

Ukraine Agmin says 2009 sunseed crop may fall 8 pct
KIEV, April 22 (Reuters) - Ukraine's 2009 sunflower seed harvest is likely to decrease to 6.0 million tonnes, 8.0 percent less than in 2008, the Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday.
The figure was issued before final sowing statistics were collected and could be influenced by the impact of the financial crisis on farmers. The ministry said Ukraine had harvested 6.52 million tonnes in 2008.

Russian palm imports to halve on higher tax -trade
KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 (Reuters) - Russia, a rising vegetable oil buyer, may halve imports of palm oil to 420,000 tonnes this year after it doubles an import tariff from June to protect domestic producers, Malaysian traders said on Wednesday.
The Russian Dairy Union had earlier said imports of tropical oils were usually above 900,000 tonnes over the last five years, with palm oil comprising the bulk of the shipments.

India's '08/09 soyoil imports to rise 9 pct-trade
NEW DELHI, April 21 (Reuters) - India, the world's second biggest vegetable oils buyer, is expected to import about 125,000 tonnes of soyoil a month for the next four months, raising annual imports by 9 percent, a leading importer said on Tuesday.
Soyoil imports in the oil year to October are projected to rise to 828,000 tonnes, up from 759,433 tonnes, said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Mumbai-based trading firm Sunvin Group, who has headed several trade bodies in the past.

Abu Dhabi firm to import more edible oil in 2009
CAIRO, April 21 (Reuters) - The Abu Dhabi Vegetable Oil Company plans to import 80,000 tonnes of oils this year to refine and redistribute in the region, a 10 percent rise from 2008, Colin Smith, the company's general manager said on Tuesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of an oil and fats conference in Cairo, he said that most of the imports would be palm oil, but the total would also include sunflower and soy oil. Smith said the company would import more vegetable oils to cater for higher demand.

FINANCIAL MARKETS:

Mixed earnings steady stocks, support yen
LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - World stocks steadied as a mixed set of key corporate earnings injected caution among investors about the state of the economy, encouraging them to buy the low-yielding dollar and yen.
"In the medium term we're trying to find a bottom....," said John Haynes, strategist at Rensburg Sheppard.


BEYOND THE HEADLINES:

Top rubber producers may revise down export plan
BANGKOK/SINGAPORE, April 22 (Reuters) - Key rubber producers may review an ambitious plan to take 15 percent of their combined exports out of the market in 2009, hoping China can absorb stocks even during a global economic downturn.
The International Rubber Consortium (IRCo), which groups Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, starts a two-day meeting in Bangkok on Thursday after agreeing in December to cut exports as cash prices tumbled from a 56-year high around $3 a kg.

German coffee sales up but costs squeeze roasters
HAMBURG, April 21 (Reuters) - German coffee roasters are increasing sales as the coffee culture becomes fashionable but a retail price war puts them under huge cost pressure, the head of Germany's coffee industry association DKV said on Tuesday.
"Currently brutal retail price competition is taking place," Holger Preibisch told Reuters in an interview.

Greener" palm oil: pricey and not green enough?
AMSTERDAM, April 21 (Reuters) - A drive to improve the green credentials of palm oil, used in foods and cosmetics but tainted for some by links to deforestation, could make it too expensive for shoppers and may anyway be of limited environmental benefit.
The first palm oil certified in the new scheme Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) unloaded in Rotterdam in November, but some environmentalists said the system was not doing enough to tackle issues such as deforestation and peatlands clearance.