20110905 1611 Global Market & Commodities Related News.

GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks, euro fall on U.S. growth gloom
SINGAPORE, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell and the euro slipped to a three-week low against the dollar as fears of renewed recession in the United States and sustained worries about the euro zone debt crisis prompted investors to sell riskier assets.
"In this atmosphere, foreign investors are likely to remain risk-averse and inactive," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co in Tokyo.

GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks, euro fall as U.S. job growth stalls
HONG KONG, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell and the euro slipped to a fresh three-week low against the dollar on Monday as disappointing U.S. jobs data and sustained worries about the euro zone debt crisis prompted investors to sell riskier assets.
"Concerns about high debt in Europe has resurfaced, and those poor payrolls results certainly got people worried about the U.S. economy and the global economy as well, that's seen pressure on the euro and Aussie. I think that'll continue for the first half of the week," said Joseph Capurso, strategist at Commonwealth Bank in Sydney.

Canada wheat, canola stocks shrink - trade
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Canada's stocks of wheat and canola shrank to multi-year lows as of July 31, the result of last year's disappointing harvest and steady demand, according to 14 traders and analysts whom Reuters surveyed.
Statistics Canada will release on Sept. 7 its estimates of crop stocks as of July 31, which is the end of the 2010/11 marketing year.

China sugar deficit seen at 2.3 mln T in 2011/12
BEIJING/SINGAPORE, Sept 2 (Reuters) - China's sugar demand could outpace output by more than 2 million tonnes in the year to September 2012 after a prolonged drought hit the growing region, triggered a supply shortage and forced Beijing to release stocks to cool record high prices.  
China's appetite may ease worries about a global surplus in the new crop year starting in October as the country rebuilds inventory after selling 1.68 million tonnes of sugar from state reserves, according to a median forecast of 10 dealers and analysts.

Rice rally losing steam on plentiful supply
SINGAPORE, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Ample global rice stocks and buyers' reluctance to wade into a market many see as overpriced will put the brakes on a rally that saw the staple at 1-1/2 year highs this week and raised concerns about food inflation in Asia.
Speculation over aggressive intervention by the new government in Thailand, the world's biggest exporter, has pushed the benchmark white rice  to $615 a tonne, the highest since December 2009, even though demand has remained thin with top importers largely covered.

Global meeting to push for India sugar reforms
NEW DELHI, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Reform of India's tightly controlled sugar sector will top the agenda of an international conference kicking off on Sept. 5, as traders and analysts call for changes to allow the country to become a regular exporter, competing with top producer Brazil.
The New Delhi government, keen to ensure cheap availability of the sweetener and to restrain high food inflation, currently sets the price mills must pay to farmers and buys 20 percent of their output at a big discount for its welfare schemes.

Dry weather starts to hamper Argentine wheat-gov't
BUENOS AIRES, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The wheat crop in parts of Argentina's top producing province is starting to show the impact of dry and chilly weather in recent weeks, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday in a weekly report.
Argentina, a leading global wheat exporter, has yet to forecast 2011/12 output, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sees production dipping to 13.5 million tonnes from 15 million last season.

EU to propose end of sugar quotas from 2016 -sources
BRUSSELS, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The European Union's executive will propose abolishing the bloc's system of sugar production quotas and guaranteed minimum prices from 2016, two EU sources with knowledge of the plans said on Friday.
Under proposals due to be published next month, the current quota system, which runs until 2015, will be extended until 30 Sept. 2016 "to allow for a reasonable period of adjustment for operators in the sector", said one source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Share of milling wheat in Ukraine crop at 40-45 pct
KIEV, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The share of milling wheat in Ukraine's 2011 wheat harvest as at between 40 and 45 percent, down from the last year 55 percent, analyst UkrAgroConsult said in a report.
Ukraine's Farm Ministry last month said the share of milling wheat had reached 70 percent as of Aug 18 compared to about 60 percent a month earlier. The ministry gave no explanation for the change in the grain quality.

Sugar crop in key India state seen at record despite rains
MUMBAI, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Recent heavy rainfall in India's top sugar producing Maharashtra state will not hurt the cane crop, which is still expected to yield a record 9.3 million tonnes of sugar, a senior state government official said on Friday.
"Rainfall at this stage is beneficial for the crop's vegetative growth. We are expecting better cane yields," Anil Bansode, joint director at the state's sugar commissioner's office, told Reuters on Friday.

CNOOC says oil field suspension to hurt output
HONG KONG, Sept 5 (Reuters) - China's top offshore oil and gas producer, CNOOC Ltd , said its net production would be reduced by about 40,000 barrels per day due to the government-ordered suspension of operations at the entire PL19-3 oil field.
In a filing with the Hong Kong exchange late on Sunday, CNOOC said its net production had been reduced by about 22,000 barrels per day since the suspension of operations of Platforms B and C of PL19-3 oil field on July 13. A suspension of the entire oil field will further reduce output, it said.

Kuwait oil output above 2.8 mln bpd in Aug -minister
DUBAI, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Kuwait pumped more than 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil throughout August, state news agency KUNA on Sunday reported oil minister Mohammad al-Busairi as saying, the highest level since the global economic downturn in late 2008.
Kuwait has not produced over 2.80 million bpd since its output peaked at 2.85 million bpd in September 2008, according to official data provided by the Joint Data Initiative (JODI), just before oil demand dipped in the global economic crisis.

Iran says India paid all $5 bln oil debt
TEHRAN, Sept 4 (Reuters) - India has paid off all oil debts accumulated this year due to a sanctions-related problem, Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani told the official IRNA news agency on Sunday.
"Although all the $5 billion of India's oil debt has been cleared, because of selling oil again Iran will always be a creditor of that country," Bahmani said, adding the payment was received in cash and not in kind through a bartering system.

Russia 2011 oil production seen above 500 mln tonnes
MOSCOW, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Russia will produce more than 500 million tonnes of oil in 2011, while also steering its coal industry towards developing Eastern world rather than "stagnating" West, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said on Saturday.
"This year we will likely beat (2010 results) as in the first half of this year we have produced around 350 million tonnes," Shmatko told Russia 24 TV channel in an interview.

Brent falls below $112 on U.S. recession fears
SINGAPORE, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Brent crude fell below $112 a barrel, as fears of another U.S. recession slowing fuel demand overshadowed supply concerns over a major shutdown of offshore oil production forced by Tropical Storm Lee.  
"The macro situation is leading to fears of a double-dip recession. And there has been a recent trend of selling into strength when the market hits a soft patch," said Chen Xin Yi, a commodities analyst at Barclays Capital in Singapore.

CNOOC says oil field suspension to hurt output
HONG KONG, Sept 5 (Reuters) - China's top offshore oil and gas producer, CNOOC Ltd , said its net production would be reduced by about 40,000 barrels per day due to the government-ordered suspension of operations at the entire PL19-3 oil field.
In a filing with the Hong Kong exchange late on Sunday, CNOOC said its net production had been reduced by about 22,000 barrels per day since the suspension of operations of Platforms B and C of PL19-3 oil field on July 13.

Oil falls as U.S. job growth stalls
NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Oil fell on Friday as stalled U.S. job growth in August rekindled worries of another will be recession, which would slow fuel demand.
"The (jobs) data reinforces our concern that the U.S. economy has stalled, and we think there is a 60 percent chance it will fall into recession by the end of the year or at the start of next year," said Rachel Ziemba at Roubini Global Economics in London.

EU targets Syrian oil firms, says may get tougher
SOPOT, Poland, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The European Union imposed a ban on purchases of Syrian oil on Saturday and warned of further steps unless President Bashar al-Assad's government ends its five-month crackdown on dissent.
The sanctions mark the first time Europe has targeted Syrian industry in a bid to stem the violence, which claimed another four lives on Saturday and has so far killed more than 2,200 people, according to the United Nations.

NYMEX-Natural gas ends down 4 pct ahead of holiday weekend
NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures ended down sharply on Friday, as comfortable supplies, a weak economy and forecasts for milder weather trumped concerns about a Gulf Coast storm ahead of a long holiday weekend.
"There's cooler weather coming, and the latest forecasts for the storm (Lee) indicate it's not going to be a hurricane, and it should be over before the end of the weekend," said Steve Mosley at SMC Advisory Services in Arkansas.

Euro Coal-Prices rise slightly, only one buyer seen
LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - European prompt physical coal prices rose by around $1.00 on Friday on buying by one major utility.
"There's been only one buyer in the European market but plenty of sellers of prompt ARA cargoes," one major European utility said.

COMMODITIES-Gold up, oil down as US data feeds economic fears
NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Gold rose and industrial commodities fell on Friday after U.S. data showed job growth ground to a halt in August, feeding fear that the world's largest economy could fall into recession without stimulus.
"The data reinforces our concern that the U.S. economy has stalled and we think there is a 60 percent chance it will fall into recession, by the end of the year or at the start of next year," said Rachel Ziemba, senior analyst at Roubini Global Economics in London. "We think QE3 is coming."

METALS-Copper steady on hopes of QE3, dip buying
SHANGHAI, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Copper prices steadied, edging up 0.2 percent in early trade, as gloomy U.S. August non-farm payroll data raised hopes of further quantitative easing measures by the Federal Reserve.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange  lifted to $9,093 a tonne by 0110 GMT, after falling 0.8 percent on Friday.

PRECIOUS-Gold edges lower; growth worry supports
SINGAPORE, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Spot gold edged lower, retaining most of its gains from the previous session, as a dismal growth outlook after the U.S. jobs data supported safe-haven interest in bullion.
"Even if you take out the effect from the Verizon strike, it is still a lousy number and people are concerned that growth is not there any more," said Dominic Schnider, head of commodity research of UBS Wealth Management in Singapore.

Ghana H1 2011 gold output up 3 pct-chamber of mines
ACCRA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Ghana's gold production rose 3 percent in the first half of 2011 to 1,497,023 ounces from 1,455,234 ounces a year ago, the West African nation's chamber of mines said on Friday.
Revenues during the same period jumped 31 percent to $2.2 billion from $1.68 billion.