Asia stocks trim gains, test policymakers' resolve
TOKYO, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Asian stocks trimmed earlier gains as investors remained sceptical about whether European leaders are going far enough in their efforts to stop the region's sovereign debt woes from sparking a full-blown banking crisis. "The market in Asia is testing Bernanke's resolve to be able to provide stimulus," said Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services.
Europe Stocks Climb Amid Bank Aid Speculation (Blooomberg)
European stocks advanced for the first time in four days amid speculation policy makers are examining measures to shield banks from the sovereign-debt crisis. Asian shares and U.S. index futures dropped. Dexia SA (DEXB) gained 3.2 percent after France and Belgium said a “bad bank” will be set up to hold its troubled assets. Rio Tinto Group led mining companies higher as copper snapped a five-day losing streak. European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. rose 1 percent after saying 2011 will be a “very good” year. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.9 percent to 219.48 at 9 a.m. in London after declining 5 percent in the previous three days. The drop had left the measure trading at 9.1 times estimated earnings, near the cheapest since March 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Corn, wheat rise on economic hopes, Chinese demand
SINGAPORE, Oct 5 (Reuters) - U.S. corn rose more than 1 percent, while soybeans recovered from a near one-year low as the markets took a breather on hopes that European leaders were stepping up efforts to contain the region's debt woes. "Once the financial markets settle, the commodity markets will also settle, but I think over the next few months it's going to be very volatile," said Abah Ofon, an analyst with Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.
Vietnam cuts 2011 coffee export forecast to 1.12 mln tonnes
HANOI, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Vietnam, the world's top robusta producer, has cut its annual coffee export projection for calendar year 2011 to 1.12 million tonnes, or 18.7 million bags, from 1.17 million tonnes, the agriculture ministry said.
August's export volume of 36,000 tonnes was below previous forecasts, leading to the downward adjustment for the whole of 2011, the ministry said in a report seen on Wednesday.
Manila sees no need to buy rice despite typhoon damage-official
MANILA, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Two strong typhoons that hit the Philippines in a week damaged about 760,000 tonnes of unmilled rice yet to be harvested, but there is no immediate need for imports because of ample buffer stocks, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
The damage, mostly from the central Luzon region, is equal to 14 days of national consumption and more than 11 percent of the expected rice harvest in the fourth quarter, Agriculture Undersecretary Antonio Fleta said.
Egypt's wheat stocks enough for four months-cabinet
CAIRO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Egypt, the world's biggest wheat importer, has 2.8 million tonnes of wheat in storage that would last for four months, cabinet spokesman Mohamed Hagazy told reporters on Tuesday after a ministerial meeting at the cabinet's headquarters.
Hagazy further said that the state will import 1.9 million tonnes of wheat until December 2011, the amount which will keep the state's covered until March 2012.
China corn imports may far exceed USDA forecast
CHICAGO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - China may need to import five times as much corn as the U.S. government expects over the next year, an industry group said on Tuesday, setting the stage for another potentially explosive year for prices.
The U.S. Grains Council, which just completed a crop tour in China, said the record harvest won't be enough to meet demand in the world's most populous nation, where expanding consumption of meat is undermining decades of self-sufficiency and helped fuel the record surge in prices earlier this year.
ADM to expand Brazil soybean crushing plant
SAO PAULO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - U.S.-based multinational Archer Daniels Midland Co is expanding soybean crushing capacity by 50 percent at its plant in Santa Catarina state in southern Brazil, an ADM director said.
The expansion is part of ADM's plans to operate a biodiesel plant adjacent to its existing crusher in the state. The biodiesel unit is expected to begin operation in 2012.
Honduras ends 2010/11 with jump in coffee exports
TEGUCIGALPA, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Honduras ended its 2010/11 coffee harvesting season with 22.3 percent more exports than during last year's cycle as the government backs an aggressive expansion of coffee growing areas, the national coffee institute Ihcafe said Tuesday.
September coffee exports jumped 74 percent from the same month in 2010 reaching 39,868 60-kg bags, Ihcafe said.
West Africa set for another big cocoa season
DAKAR, Oct 4 (Reuters) - West African plantations will churn out huge amounts of cocoa during the early months of this season thanks to near-ideal growing weather, and the full harvest is likely to rival last year's record volumes.
The region produced a record of nearly 3.2 million tonnes of cocoa during the 2011-12 season that just ended, raising its share of the global market to about 75 percent from two-thirds.
Louis Dreyfus buys Brazil cotton seed processor
SAO PAULO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - French commodities trader Louis Dreyfus said on Tuesday it bought a cotton seed processor from Brazilian agribusiness group Maeda Agroindustrial, more than doubling its capacity in the South American country.
Maeda Agroindustrial S.A. is controlled by Brasil Ecodiesel.
Late-week rain seen for dry US Plains wheat belt
CHICAGO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Drought-hit areas of the southern U.S. Plains are expected to get much-needed moisture late this week that should help some of the new winter wheat crop to germinate, a forecaster said Tuesday.
Showers and thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday were expected to produce 0.25 to 1.5 inches (0.6 to 3.8 cm) of rain from central and west Texas up into Oklahoma and Kansas, said Telvent DTN forecaster Mike Palmerino.
Russia harvests 89.5 mln T grain by Oct 4 - AgMin
MOSCOW, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Russia harvested 89.5 million tonnes of grain by bunker weight by Oct. 4 from 38.9 million hectares, or 88 percent of the sown area, the Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry did not provide a comparison to a year-ago volume, but last year, when the country was hit by a severe drought, it said farmers harvested 60.96 million tonnes of grain from 37.96 million hectares by Oct. 5, 2010.
Brent oil rebounds above $102 on stocks data, Fed
SINGAPORE, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Brent crude rebounded above $102 as tighter U.S. crude stocks and promises by the Federal Reserve to launch new stimulus measures if necessary helped halt a sharp three-day sell off. "The market will be looking to official inventory data for some direction, but macroeconomic worries regarding Europe will continue to drive sentiment this week," ANZ bank said in a research note.
S.Korea's PPS sees lower metals prices in 2012
LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - South Korea's state-run Public Procurement Service (PPS) plans to hold more buy tenders for base metals in 2012 than this year as it expects base metals prices on average to be 20 to 30 percent lower, it said on Tuesday.
It sees South Korea's copper buying demand at around 1 million tonnes next year, up from 900,000 tonnes this year, Im Byeong Cheol, PPS director of commodity stockpile division, said.
Copper snaps 5-day losing streak, but caution stays
SINGAPORE, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Copper rose more than 1 percent after comments by the U.S. Federal Reserve that it was ready to take more steps to help a struggling U.S. economy helped prices recover from a five-day slide. "The sentiment is very sour right now," said Nirrav Sharma at Singapore-based trading house G-Steelmet.
Codelco sees stable premiums for copper consumers
LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The world's largest copper miner, Chile's Codelco expects next year's premiums for copper consumers in Asia and Europe to hold steady, Diego Hernandez, the company's chief executive told Reuters on Tuesday.
Financial market turmoil, economic slowdown and fears of recession in Europe has fuelled market talk of lower copper premiums -- the amount copper consumers pay above cash prices on the London Metal Exchange.
Aluminium demand slowdown not dramatic-Rio Tinto Alcan
LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Demand for aluminium is slowing but not dramatically, with Asia holding up well, North America flat and Europe faring worst, a Rio Tinto Alcan executive said on Tuesday.
"The wheels are not falling off yet in terms of demand. We are certainly seeing a slowdown, but it is somewhat regional," Gordon Hamilton, vice president, metal management sales and marketing, said at a London Metal Exchange Week event.
Celsa looks to cut steel output on slower demand
LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Spanish steelmaker Celsa is considering closing some steel plants in the next few months to respond to lower steel apparent consumtion, it said on Tuesday.
"Celsa Group is taking measures at some steel plants in Europe to adapt to lower apparent steel consumption in the fourth quarter 2011 and first quarter 2012," a spokesperson for the company told Reuters on Tuesday.
U.S. gold gains 1 pct on euro; equities weigh
SINGAPORE, Oct 5 (Reuters) - U.S. gold futures gained 1 percent to above $1,630 an ounce, driven by a return to bargain hunting after prices dropped the previous day, while a rebound in the euro against the U.S. dollar also spurred buying. "It can't make up its mind mainly because investors, the people who are actually doing the buying and selling, haven't also made up their minds whether gold is treated as a safe haven and, therefore, should follow that status," said Song Seng Wun, a regional economist at CIMB Research in Singapore.
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