Tuesday, January 20, 2009
by Jawwad Rizvi
PUBLISHED BY ‘THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL’ (Pakistan)
CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE
PUBLISHED BY ‘THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL’ (Pakistan)
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on January 20, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
by Jawwad Rizvi
PUBLISHED BY ‘THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL’ (Pakistan)
CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE
PUBLISHED BY ‘THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL’ (Pakistan)
Posted in AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, COMMODITIES MARKET, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, FARMING SUBSIDIES, FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008/2009, FINANCIAL MARKETS, FOOD PRODUCTION (human), INDUSTRIES, INTERNATIONAL, PAKISTAN, RECESSION, THE FLOW OF INVESTMENTS, WHEAT | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on December 26, 2008
25/12/2008 – 16h02min
Letícia Luvison – Brasília (DF)
PUBLISHED BY ‘CANAL RURAL’ (Brazil)
Posted in AGRICULTURA, AGRICULTURE, AGRONEGÓCIOS, BANKING SYSTEMS, BRASIL, COMMODITIES MARKET, CORN, ECONOMIA - BRASIL, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, EXPANSÃO AGRÍCOLA, EXPANSÃO ECONÔMICA, FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008/2009, FLUXO DE CAPITAIS, GRAINS, INTERNATIONAL, MINISTÉRIO DA AGRICULTURA, PECUÁRIA E ABASTECIMENTO, O PODER EXECUTIVO FEDERAL, O SISTEMA BANCÁRIO - BRASIL, RECESSION, THE FLOW OF INVESTMENTS, WHEAT | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on December 3, 2008
December 03, 2008 Wednesday Zilhaj 4, 1429
by Mubarak Zeb Khan
PUBLISHED BY ‘DAWN’ (Pakistan)
ISLAMABAD, Dec 2: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet approved on Tuesday a new schedule for load-management of natural gas for winter to overcome a possible shortfall.
The shortfall may exceed 500 million million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) in December and February and 600 mmcfd in January.
A meeting of the ECC, presided over by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin, approved a summary prepared by the petroleum ministry aimed at maintaining uninterrupted supply of gas to domestic consumers, independent power producers and CNG stations for the transport sector.
Under the schedule, gas supply to the cement sector will be suspended from December to February and to the industrial sector it will be reduced by 50 per cent.
While fertiliser companies will carry out their annual maintenance, no gas will be provided to Wapda during the three months.
The schedule was finalised by a committee in consultation with the stakeholders.
The ECC asked the petroleum ministry to ensure uninterrupted supply of gas to domestic consumers. The burden of reduced supply will be shared by the power sector and industry.
On the recommendation of the ministry of water and power, the meeting approved a proposal to extend the tariff provisions of the 2002 power policy and the mechanism developed by Nepra to hydropower projects under the 1995 hydel policy with minimum changes in project agreements.
For increased availability of power, the ECC allowed rental power projects the same tax treatment as applicable to rental power projects under Wapda’s jurisdiction.
The meeting also approved a market intervention price of Rs1465 per 40kg for seed cotton during the 2008-09 season on the basis of current export parity price. The ministries of food and agriculture and commerce have been asked to work out an efficient procurement plan that benefits small farmers and keeps the price stable. The food and agriculture ministry has been asked to make timely announcement of the intervention price.
The ECC allowed procurement of 750,000 tons of additional wheat with better specifications and in a manner that domestic requirements were met satisfactorily and the wheat stock position remained adequate.
The ECC approved a credit guarantee scheme for small banks to help them maintain liquidity through availability of credit facilities from the State Bank. The scheme will be implemented by the SBP which will ensure its effective utilisation and sound operation of the banking system.
Posted in AGRICULTURE, BANKING SYSTEMS, CENTRAL BANKS, COMMERCE, COMMODITIES MARKET, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, ENERGY, FARMING SUBSIDIES, FERTILIZERS, FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008/2009, FINANCIAL MARKETS, INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION, INDUSTRIES, INTERNATIONAL, NATURAL GAS, PAKISTAN, RECESSION, THE FLOW OF INVESTMENTS, WATER, WHEAT | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on November 27, 2008
November 27, 2008 Thursday Ziqa’ad 28, 1429
by Muzaffar Qureshi
KARACHI, Nov 26: Water shortage, especially in lower Sindh, is adversely affecting wheat sowing, which in other areas has started in full swing.
An official of the Sindh agriculture department confirmed on Wednesday that water shortage is the main problem in wheat sowing which has become a sensitive cash crop in view of the looming food shortage worldwide.
The areas affected by water shortage are: Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin, Matiari, Nawabshah and Naushero Feroze.
Growers complained that the fields situated at the tail-end of water canals were suffering most, and President of Sindh Abadgar Board Majeed Nizamani feared that the wheat target for year 2008-09 would not be achieved if water shortage was not tackled. The growers said that there was no real shortage of water, which has been created by mismanagement in water distribution and corruption in the irrigation department.
The water is supplied to influential and big growers offering incentives to the irrigation staff, they alleged.
Explaining the distribution network in the province, Nizamani said that the water available at the Guddu Barrage irrigates about eight million acres of land on both sides of the barrage through four major canals on the left side and three on the right side. The distribution network comprises about 210 water channels.
He said that the water shortage during the current wheat crop has been estimated at 35 per cent which means that out of four weeks, there will be no water supply to the farms for one week. However, he said that if judicious distribution of the available water is made, wheat target could be achieved.
Mr Nizamani said that otherwise factors, such as availability of phosphate and urea fertilizers, etc., were favourable for a bumper crop.
More land will be available for wheat sowing this year as growers of edible oil crop, who are not keen to grow sunflower in view of declining prices of edible oil in the world market, will instead contribute their land for wheat sowing.
Similarly, he said that if sugarcane is lifted by the sugar mills earlier, more land could be made available for wheat cultivation.
The government has fixed wheat cultivation area in Sindh this year at 2.5 million acres while the production target is 25 million tons.
Another leading wheat grower pointed to the corruption, which has reached its climax in the irrigation department.
The officials of the department are so powerful that the agriculture ministry finds itself helpless in dealing with the department.
He called for proper management of cultivation of various crops as is managed in Australia where the government fixed the land units for sowing of a particular crop, which is decided after assessing the domestic requirements.
Posted in AGRICULTURE, COMMODITIES MARKET, CORRUPTION, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, FERTILIZERS, INTERNATIONAL, PAKISTAN, SUNFLOWER, WATER, WHEAT | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on November 14, 2008
November 13, 2008
by Ray Brindal
Article from: Dow Jones Newswires
GLOBAL wheat prices have steadied in recent weeks after a savage two-month slide, but the preconditions are in place to underpin a rally early in 2009, and if production doesn’t meet high expectations it could be a very sharp rally.
Against a backdrop of a general decline in the value of all asset classes, wheat prices slumped as the market focused on a sharp increase in global wheat production, with the US Department of Agriculture on Monday estimating a 12 per cent on year increase in output in 2008-09 to a record 682 million tonnes.
But the market may have overlooked “the missing salient fact” that demand is continuing to grow because the global population is expanding, says Mark Martin, a risk management adviser and director at Australian commodity manager MarketAg.
USDA estimates demand for wheat will grow 6.2 per cent on year in 2008-09 to 657 million tonnes.
“With that growing demand and tight stocks, it wouldn’t take too much for a production hiccup to cause an explosion in prices,” Mr Martin told Dow Jones Newswires.
Australia’s most active wheat futures contract – ASX January – settled yesterday at $268 a tonne. That’s up from a low of $258 late October but still well below a recent high of $392 on August 21 and a still higher peak of almost $450 in late February.
“If we have a serious weather problem, or a scare…you’d see a $200 lift in these prices,” Mr Martin said.
He isn’t alone in seeing a solid floor in place for wheat prices.
In analysing the USDA estimates, Merrill Lynch said that despite expectations of higher output of wheat, soy and corn in 2008-09, inventories are projected to remain at low levels.
Wheat stocks – at their third-lowest level in 35 years – should remain near record lows, it said.
“With grain demand expected to grow at 3-4 per cent in the coming year, inventories at historically low levels and limited arable land available for expansion, grain markets are expected to remain tight in the near to mid term,” Merrill Lynch’s analyst Mario Maia wrote.
“We expect tight market conditions to support grain prices above historical levels.”
In order to meet demand, increase productivity and improve land use efficiency, larger amounts of agricultural inputs will have to be applied, Mr Maia said.
The United Nation’s Food & Agriculture Organisation warned in its biannual Food Outlook report that a prolonged financial crisis could adversely affect plantings of various crops globally and potentially lead to an even more severe price hike in farm commodities next year than was seen earlier this year.
“The financial crisis of the last few months has amplified downward price movements, contributed to tightened credit markets, and introduced greater uncertainty about next year’s prospects, so that many producers are adopting very conservative planting decisions,” one of the report’s authors, Concepcion Calpe, said last week.
This was amplified yesterday by Abdolreza Abbassian, the Secretary of FAO’s Intergovernmental Group on Grains, who said that while attention is distracted by the international financial crisis and the drop in grain prices has taken the urgency off of dealing with soaring food prices, a new, more severe, food crisis is looming.
“We don’t have stocks – no security against production disruptions,” he said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.
MarketAg’s Mr Martin said that wheat is one of a number of agricultural commodities whose charts suggest prices are forming a base. After hitting its $258 low on October 23, ASX January wheat traded up to $285 on October 28 and this month traded in a range of $260-$275.
As for the future of prices, “you’d have to say there’s 10 per cent to 20 per cent risk to the downside and an 80 per cent to 90 per cent risk to the upside,” Mr Martin said.
Richard Koch, managing director of Perth-based marketing advisory service Profarmer Australia, is more circumspect, in part reflecting a rebuilding of global wheat stocks, saying “the upside potential outweighs the downside.”
“The best chance we have for a recovery in wheat prices is for Black Sea selling to reduce, that’s been the overwhelming influence on grain markets in the past couple of months,” he said today.
Until outside markets show signs of stabilising, it’s hard to make a case for grain prices to push too far away from where they are now, he said.
That said, probably early next year in the northern hemisphere spring, the battle for acres between competing grains should underpin a recovery in prices, but these likely won’t “blow off the charts” so much as just grind higher, Mr Koch said.
Dow Jones Newswires
Posted in AGRICULTURE, AUSTRALIA, COMMERCE, COMMODITIES MARKET, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, GRAINS, INTERNATIONAL, USA, WHEAT | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Gilmour Poincaree on November 3, 2008
November 03, 2008 – Monday
Bureau Report
HYDERABAD, Nov 2: The Sindh Abadgar Board has rejected the government proposal for obtaining $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund and cautioned that if the government does not change its decision it would be tantamount to signing the death warrant of the national economy.
The board leaders said at a meeting held on Saturday under its chairman Abdul Majeed Nizamani that the IMF always targeted agriculture sector and the fund was more likely to impose condition to end subsidy for agriculture sector.
The meeting pointed out that the IMF loan would be extremely dangerous for the national economy and political stability of the country and demanded that the president and prime minister bring the matter before the National Assembly.
The meeting advised the government to make efforts to obtain $1.5 billion from China by mortgaging shares of government corporations and $800 million reimbursement from the United States under the coalition support fund for war on terror.
The meeting warned that if the government fell into the IMF trap and withdrew subsidy on agriculture, it would have to spend more money on importing food items.
The meeting resolved to make the “Grow More Wheat” campaign a success and demanded that the government make all the purchasing centres for wheat functional in Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Badin and other areas where wheat was harvested earlier.
The meeting said that keeping in view 35 per cent shortage of water in the system, Irsa should be asked to ensure supply of 11.7 million acre foot water of Sindh’s share.
The meeting stressed the need for safeguarding wheat from the smugglers and disclosing the names of “30 respectable people” involved in the grain’s smuggling as disclosed by the prime minister himself on the floor of the assembly.
The meeting said that sugarcane growers were switching over to other crops largely due to government’s helplessness before PSMA over the past 10 years, which was very dangerous for sugar industry. The sugar mills must start crushing season according to government notification, the meeting demanded.
SCA: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture warned on Sunday that delay in start of crushing season would seriously affect wheat cultivation and lead to wheat crisis in the coming months.
The senior vice-president of the chamber, Mir Murad Ali Khan Talpur, said at the chamber’s meeting that the government had fixed price of cotton at Rs1,900 per maund but the growers were being forced to sell their produce at Rs400 to Rs500 per maund.
The chamber’s general secretary, Akhund Ghulam Mohammad Siddiqui, complained that open blackmarketing of urea fertiliser had inflicted huge losses on the growers.
Sain Bux Rind said that Pasco’s failure to establish purchase centres for rice had created an opportunity for the rice traders to fleece growers. The government had fixed purchase of Irri-6 at Rs900 per maund but the growers were forced to sell their produce at Rs500 per maund, he said.
Posted in AGRICULTURE, ASIA, COMMERCE, COMMODITIES MARKET, CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES, ECONOMIC CONJUNCTURE, ECONOMY, FINANCIAL CRISIS 2008/2009, GRAINS, IMF, INDUSTRIAL SUBSIDIES, INTERNATIONAL, PAKISTAN, RICE, SMUGGLING, SUGAR, WHEAT | Leave a Comment »