The Hindu Business Line : Saturday, December 20, 2008

AGRI-BIZ & COMMODITIES

CULTIVATION: Area under wheat declines marginally
Overall acreage under other crops increases. New Delhi, Dec. 19 Progressive area sown under wheat during the current rabi season has declined marginally to 229.58 lakh hectares (lh), as against 229.79 lh covered during the same period of ...

COTTON: Cotton arrivals at ginning mills rise
Chennai, Dec. 19For only the second time this marketing year, weekly arrivals at ginning mills surpassed the same week a year ...

CLIMATE & WEATHER: Dipping westerlies fan moisture to northwest
Thiruvananthapuram, Dec. 19 A trough in the westerlies dipping to as low as 13 degree south latitude caused moisture from the available pool over southwest Arabian Sea to be sprayed fountain-like over Pakistan and adjoining northwest India ...

OILSEEDS & EDIBLE OIL: Plea to impose import duty on palm group of oils
Mumbai, Dec. 19 The Solvent Extractor Association (SEA) has urged the Government to impose import duty of 30 per cent on palm oil, 37.5 per cent on RBD palmolein and 30 per cent on crude sunflower oil, besides raising duty on refined soyabean ...

RUBBER: Spot rubber prices gain
Sharp gains in the Japanese rubber futures kept the domestic buyers under pressure on late trades. Certain major manufacturers were buyers on sheet rubber up to Rs 65 a kg, sources ...

TEA: Export demand props up prices at Kochi tea sale
Kochi, Dec. 19 Export demand shored up prices at the Kochi dust tea auction, especially among CTC bolder varieties. Major blenders as well as the domestic players were supportive on good liquoring CTC dust grades. Exporters were also active ...

TEA: Tea e-auction launch in Coimbatore
The Union Minister of State for Commerce and Power, Mr Jairam Ramesh, will inaugurate the e-auction of tea at the Tea Trade Association here on Saturday. He is also scheduled to release the Geographical Indication for Nilgiris Orthodox tea ...

Columnists: • G Chandrashekhar • Sharad Joshi