20110812 1739 Global Market & Commodities Related News.

Asia shares rise on value buys; havens may still be attractive
SINGAPORE, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Asian stocks edged up on Friday, as investors chased value picks after recent sharp volatility, though concerns over the European crisis may continue to fuel buying into safe havens like gold and government bonds.
"The rebound is a little lukewarm as investors want to lighten their positions and take profits ahead of the weekend after a very turbulent week," said Mitsuo Shimizu, deputy general manager at Cosmo Securities in Tokyo.

India's July vegoil imports likely to edge up on month
NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - India's palm oil imports slipped in July as buyers waited for Indonesia's tax cut from Aug. 1, a Reuters survey showed, with a 77 percent leap in soyoil purchases keeping overall volumes slightly up on the month.
But traders said despite the delay to cargoes and demand for the August to October festival season, imports next month would not match August 2010's record 1.1 million tonnes hit on the back of poor domestic availability and attractive soyoil prices.

U.S. corn at one-week top, soy rises on bullish USDA report
SINGAPORE, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Chicago corn futures gained more ground on Friday, rising half a percent to trade near a 1-week top, while soybeans rose for a third straight day as a government forecast of lower production continued to buoy the markets.
"The USDA report provided a fundamental reason for higher corn prices," Luke Mathews, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a report.

China 2011 corn output seen up 3 pct at 182.5 mln T - CNGOIC
SHANGHAI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - China will likely harvest 182.5 million tonnes of corn this year, up 2.96 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest estimate by an official think-tank, lifting the production forecast slightly from its estimate in July.
The China National Grain and Oils Information Centre (CNGOIC) also said 2011 soybean output was expected to fall 10.5 percent from last year to 13.5 million tonnes.

China ups Aug soybean imports f'cast to 3.85 mln T
SHANGHAI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - China's soybean imports in August will likely reach 3.85 million tonnes, the Ministry of Commerce said, raising its earlier estimate by 22 percent.
The forecast is based on reports from importers during the July 16-31 period,  the ministry said in a statement on its website seen on Friday.

Japan rice futures normalising -exchange head
TOKYO, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Rice futures are normalising after soaring on their debut in Japan this week on fears over contamination from radiation, and prices are expected to reflect physical demand and supply if more tests show the staple food is radiation-free, the head of the Tokyo Grain Exchange said.
Japan revived rice futures trading on Monday after 72 years, though no trades were completed on the first day on the TGE as circuit breakers were triggered throughout the session with buy and sell orders nearly 40 percent above the exchange's pre-trade reference price.

Colombia coffee output falls for fourth month
BOGOTA, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Colombia's coffee output fell for a fourth consecutive month in July, shrinking 33 percent versus the same month last year to 530,000 60-kg bags, the growers' federation said on Thursday.
Exports from the world's No. 1 producer of high-quality Arabica beans slumped 25 percent to 458,000 sacks, the federation said in a statement.

Brazil's sugar output falls further--Unica
SAO PAULO, Brazil, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Brazil's main center-south sugar cane crop estimate was cut for the second month in a row as frost, flowering and falling yields continued to drag down milling results, cane industry association Unica said Thursday.
Unica put the center-south's sugar output this season at 31.57 million tonnes, down 2.5 percent from its July estimate of 32.38 million tonnes.

La Nina seen threatening Argentine soy, corn crops
BUENOS AIRES, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Argentine soy and corn crops, set to be planted in the weeks ahead, will face a threat of the same La Nina-related dryness that reduced yields last season, weather experts are predicting.
Satellite maps show that La Nina -- a cooling of the ocean surface off western South America which causes dryness -- may be worse in Argentina this year than in neighboring grains powerhouse Brazil.

Brent slips below $108 as dollar rises; demand concerns weigh
SINGAPORE, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Brent slipped below $108 a barrel on Friday, reversing direction after two straight days of gains, as the dollar strengthened and demand concerns from industrialised nations weighed on prices.
"The market needs strong indicators to be convinced about demand for oil and for prices to go up steadily towards $100," said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivatives manager at Japan's Newedge brokerage.

No alarm in OPEC yet on falling oil price
LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - OPEC, source of more than a third of the world's oil, is unlikely to become concerned about a slide in oil prices unless Brent crude falls towards $90 a barrel, OPEC delegates said on Thursday.
Brent  has fallen to $106 a barrel, down more than $20 from its peak this year of $127.02, on concern of slowing oil demand due to the European debt crisis and a weakening economic outlook for the United States.  

Indonesia steel consumption may rise 3.8 pct in 2011 -producer
JAKARTA, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Steel consumption in Indonesia in 2011 will rise as much as 3.8 percent compared to last year, due to a rise in state funded projects, said an official at Krakatau Steel , the country's biggest steel maker.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, is forecast to consume 8.2-8.3 million tonnes of steel this year, compared with 8 million tonnes in 2010, Irvan Kamal Hakim, Krakatau Steel's marketing director told a news conference late on Thursday.

U.S. Steel raising prices, cites costs
NEW YORK, Aug 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Steel Corp , whose second-quarter profit and sales missed Wall Street estimates, is raising prices as soaring raw material costs eat into margins, Chief Executive Officer John Surma said on Thursday.
"We informed our customers that that was what we were doing," he said when asked about analyst reports the steelmaker raised prices by about $60 per ton -- or roughly 10 percent.

Copper up on stocks rebound, stronger yuan
SHANGHAI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Copper rose on Friday, as stocks recovered after better-than-expected U.S. jobless data gave a fillip to risk appetite while China's pegging of the yuan at its sixth record in ten trading days offered support for the country's imports of commodities.
"Worries about the U.S. and Europe are in the background now for Chinese investors who are more concerned about what's happening here now," said Dongzheng Futures trader Du Xiao Hua.

UK aluminium smelter power plant must switch from coal
LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - The coal-fired power station which supplies all of the energy to Rio Tinto Alcan's   Lynemouth aluminium smelter in northeast England, must switch to biomass generation if it is to have a long-term future, a spokesman for the company said.
The company has yet to decide separately, in a strategic review, whether it will keep, sell or close its Lynemouth assets, which comprise the smelter and power plant.

Spot gold reverse early losses on econ worries
SINGAPORE, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Spot gold reversed early losses, putting it back on track for its best week since January 2009 as worries about the euro zone debt crisis and global growth drive investors to safe havens.
"We've seen some new investors getting in the market at high price levels," said Dick Poon, manager of precious metals at Heraeus in Hong Kong.

As gold prices surge, cash-for-gold frenzy fades
NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Handing out flyers at the corner of 47th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City's Diamond District, Mariabi Peenya is having trouble finding passersby eager to sell their gold jewelry for cash.
In Mexico City, Paulino Luna says fewer customers are coming to his small storefront in a colonial-era building, where he's been buying bullion for 25 years. And in Chennai, India, Daman Prakash Rathod finds the once-heaving crowd of local gold scrap sellers have all but disappeared.