Govt releases 41 lakh tonne free sale sugar

NEWS DIGEST

The Government has released 41 lakh tonne of free sale sugar for the January to March quarter of 2007. For the month of January 2007, the Government has released the free sale sugar quota of 13 lakh tonne.

In addition, a quantity of 1.84 lakh tonnes has been released as levy sugar for distribution under Public Distribution System. Thus, the total availability of sugar in January 2007 would be 14.84 lakh tonne.

Vietnam cuts rice exports estimates

Vietnam has set a target for rice exports for 2007 at four million tonne, down 15 per cent from the total shipment expected in 2006, state media reported.

The Vietnam News Agency's Tin Tuc (Information) newspaper quoted the Trade Ministry as saying exports in 2007 would be reduced due to pests damaging rice crops in the country's rice basket Mekong delta.

The Trade Ministry expected output from the winter-spring crop would fall to eight million tonne this year, from nine million tonne in the same crop last year.

Rice trade remained stagnant in recent weeks with a government export ban in place indefinitely, rice traders said. Last month, the government halted all loading and banned new contracts after last year's rice crop was hit by pests and bad weather.

Potato output to rise by 5 mn tonne in 2007

Owing to increase in acreage, India's potato production is estimated to go up by 4-5 million tonne to 26-28 million tonne this year, according to traders and analysts. However, they were not sure whether the prices would fall after the February harvest as the demand from food processors for producing potato chips, flakes and starch was still high.

"Purchases of the new crop by processors will be substantial as potato prices are low," a Delhi-based trader said.

However, disagreeing with the theory of shortfall in potato availability due to demand from the processing industry, an analyst with Karvy Comtrade said, "hardly one per cent of the potato crop (of total output) is processed in the country."

Potato prices soared to as high as Rs 30 per kg in Delhi just two months back, which was attributed to supply shortfall.

Pakistan lifts wheat exports ban

Pakistan has lifted a two-and-a-half year ban on wheat exports and has allowed the export of 500,000 tonne of the grain, a government official said.

"The ECC has allowed exports of 500,000 tonne of wheat," Ashfaque Hasan Khan, economic adviser to Finance Ministry told a news conference, after a meeting of the cabinet's Economic Coordination Committee "" the highest economic decision-making body.

Pakistan imposed a 15 per cent export duty and then banned the export of wheat in May 2004 after domestic supplies ran short.Agriculture officials have been lobbying for a complete removal of the ban after reports of a better-than-expected harvest this season.