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Hundreds of poultry farmers are now passing their days in frustration and apprehension due to the government’s non-cooperation and lack of financial assistance for the sector, which is hindering them from resuming business.
   The government’s financial compensation for culling the infected or suspected fowls was not enough to start their business again, and they did not get any loans from the banks and the micro-credit agencies for the purpose, farmers claimed on Saturday.
   The government, however, assured the small- and medium-scale poultry farmers that they would be supplied day-old chicks and the necessary feed to resume business, but is yet to provide any of these even after one year has elapsed after the pledge, they claimed.
   The Bangladesh Bank also issued a circular to all scheduled banks on March 18, asking them to reschedule the outstanding loans and distribute new loans to the farmers if needed, but they have not responded to the circular so far.
   The central bank’s circular also asked the banks to relax the terms and conditions for providing fresh loans, and to suspend the recovery of interest of the principal amount for one year and of interest for four months.
   ‘After the dying of some 2,500 layer birds due to bird flu on February 2008, I had tried to get loans from commercial banks and various micro-credit organisations but they did not agree to lend me anything at all,’ said Alauddin, a farmer of Savar who had made an investment of Tk 5.50 lakh in the poultry business but is now bankrupt.
   ‘We had an income of Tk 60,000 every month but now I have no source of earning as the government exterminated some 5,600 layer birds of my farm. My investment was about Tk 12 lakh but I got only one-fourth as compensation from the government,’ said poultry farmer Jasim of Bhai Bhai Poultry in Gazipur district.
   ‘I have repeatedly tried to get a loan from the banks but they did not agree to finance me,’ said another farmer, Dulal Mia, of village Sadarganj under Gazipur district who had invested Tk 6 lakh in the poultry business.’
   ‘The government culled some 1,974 broilers on March last year in my farm and gave me only Tk 1,12,000 as compensation, with which I could not resume my business as most of the amount had to be spent for repayment of outstanding loans,’ added Dulal Mia.
   ‘The government must take an initiative to implement the circular of the central bank otherwise the production of the poultry sector is likely to be hampered drastically,’ said Md A Saleque, the local general secretary of the World Poultry Science Association, a poultry science-based organisation whose network covers 72 countries in the world.
   He, however, admitted that they, on behalf of the industry, have already mounted pressure on the government to implement the circular, but the government is yet to respond. An earlier estimate of the industry suggests that bird flu caused a loss of Tk 4,165 crore to the poultry sector.
   ‘We have estimated the loss caused by bird flu during the period from March 2007 to January 31 this year,’ said Moshiur Rahman, general secretary of Bangladesh Breeders’ Association, in February.
   Many small and marginal poultry farmers were thrown out of business, while a few large-scale entrepreneurs, who expanded their business with bank loans turned penniless overnight after the detection of bird flu, which was followed by culling of lakhs of fowls.
   There are about 1.80 lakh to 2 lakh poultry farms in the country with some 22 crore poultry birds. The sector employs nearly 50 lakh people directly or indirectly, according to the industry’s estimate.
   The government offered only token compensation for culling the fowls or destroying the eggs, but no visible steps have been taken so far to help the affected farmers to resume business and recoup their losses. Industry leaders sought incentives and policy support from the government for soft loans and block allocations to restart their business.
   Kitchen markets now have a much lower supply of eggs and chickens, leading to rise in their prices as consumers started returning to poultry shops after the bird flu scare died down, said market sources.
   The government has so far exterminated more than 16.30 lakh poultry birds and destroyed about 22 lakh eggs in over 500 commercial and 42 backyard farms in 47 districts since March 2007.

The central bank is considering formulation of a policy on corporate social responsibility for banks and financial institutions with a view to encouraging them to fund welfare-oriented commercial projects, governor Salehuddin Ahmed said on Saturday.
   ‘We are planning something as part of the banks’ ratings so that they go to backward areas like the north or finance small enterprises which have largely remained out of the mainstream development process’, he said after addressing an award-distribution ceremony at CIRDAP auditorium.
   The Bangladesh Bank governor referred to similar CSR policy enforced by India’s Reserve Bank and said that the central bank would add to the current CAMEL [capital, assets, management, earnings and liquidity] rating to evaluate financial performance of banks. ‘If we can do this, big corporations will follow suit and set up enterprises in backward areas.’
   Salehuddin urged the affluent section of the people to spend less on luxuries and divert a part of their wealth to funding welfare schemes for the poor and helpless, especially those who can barely afford the high costs of medical treatment nowadays.
   In this context, he referred to Rabindranath Tagore’s short story Kabuliwala [The man from Kabul] in which the family head cut down on the budget for his daughter Mini’s marriage and donated the amount to Rahmat who had just been freed from jail to help him return home in Afghanistan.
   The Bankers’ Forum organised the function to honour six organisations in recognition of their performance in corporate social responsibility in 2006 and 2007. The governor lauded the role of the organisations and said such recognition could encourage them to work more for public welfare.
   Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited was adjudged the best bank, Dhaka Ahsania Mission the best organisation in healthcare and Pubali Bank Limited the selected bank for the 2007 awards. For 2006 awards, the Dhaka Bank was ranked the best bank, Islamia Eye Hospital the best organisation in healthcare and Standard Chartered Bank the best foreign bank.
   Top officials of the organisations received awards at the functioned chaired by the Bankers’ Forum president MA Khaleque.

The Philippines Friday announced auction results for rice supplies in which Vietnam won with the highest offer of $1,200 per tonne for 100,000 tonnes of 25-per-cent white rice.
   Thailand followed with an offer of $1,080 to $1,190 per tonne for 195,000 tonnes, while Pakistan offered to sell at $870 per tonne for 25,000 tonnes.
   Offer prices at the Philippine auctions were new records for 25-per-cent white rice, which is the lowest of the six grades of white rice.
   The Philippine government will open another round of auctions on May 5 for a total supply of 500,000 tonnes, plus another 175,000 tonnes as it received only about 325,000 tonnes in yesterday’s auction.
   Thailand’s Rice Exporters Association president Chookiat Ophas-wongse said bidding prices were very high and urged the Thai government join the next auction, as all bidders are required to have government guarantees.
   ‘The government should also consider government-to-government deals to support Thai exporters,’ Chookiat said.
   Ponglarp president Som-pong Kitireanglarp one of the bid winners, said exporters were satisfied with the bidding results.
   However, he said orders had slowed down from other rice-buying countries, due to skyrocketing rice prices.
   The Philippines is currently one of the few buyers ready to pay higher rice prices so the government should participate in the next Philippines bidding to ensure there are more orders. Sompong suggested Thailand turn to government-to-government contracts by offering to sell 100,000-200,000 tonnes and then distribute the orders among members of the Rice Exporters Association.

China has started to build a rail link between Tibet and Nepal that could drastically reduce Kathmandu’s trade reliance on its giant southern neighbour India, officials said Saturday.
   Beijing is bringing the railway line from Lhasa — the capital of troubled Chinese-controlled Tibet — to Khasa, a town along the Nepal-China border, Aditya Baral, the Nepalese premier’s foreign affairs adviser, told the news agency.
   ‘Prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala was told by a visiting Chinese delegation during a meeting Friday the Chinese government has begun the railway extension project on its side to link with the Nepal-China border,’ Baral said.
   The Chinese communist party delegation told Nepalese officials that the railway link would be ready in five years time, said Baral.
   The Nepal border town of Khasa lies some 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the ancient capital Kathmandu.
   ‘The railway network will be important for increasing trade and tourism for both countries,’ Baral added.
   Landlocked and impoverished Nepal is wedged between India and China.
   Analysts said such a rail link could reduce Nepal’s reliance on India for many of its goods from drugs to transport vehicles and spare parts, cotton textiles and cement.
   Many Nepalese are uneasy with what they say is New Delhi’s dominance of the Himalayan nation’s economy.
   India is Nepal’s largest trading partner, accounting for more than 60 per cent of its trade. The two countries recently renewed a bilateral trade treaty which allows duty-free imports into India.
   ‘Once the railway service comes into operation it will lessen dependence on India within a decade or so,’ Madhavi Singh Shah, economics professor at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan University, told the news agency.
   ‘Better connectivity will also be an opportunity for Nepal to take benefit of China’s rapidly growing economy,’ she said.
   Although Nepal shares a 1,400-kilometres (875 miles) border with China, economic exchanges have been low due to the absence of easy transport links.
   The Chinese visitors also discussed Nepal’s political situation and strengthening bilateral ties between the two nations, Baral said.
   Their visit came against the backdrop of elections earlier this month in which Nepal’s former rebel Maoists scored a surprisingly strong showing, grabbing more than one-third of the seats in the new constituent assembly.

The Indonesian president has ordered government officials to prevent the illegal export of rice amid the rising demand of the grain in neighbouring countries.
   President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government would prioritise efforts to strengthen domestic food security in anticipation of a global food supply crisis.
   ‘Don’t let our rice flow to other countries,’ said Yudhoyono as quoted by Antara at the launch of a poverty eradication programme in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan.
   He has also ordered ministers and local authorities to halt rice exports unless domestic supply is deemed sufficient to weather food shortages and maintain affordable prices.
   On Tuesday (April 22), the Indonesian government raised the benchmark price for rice purchasing by state logistics agency Bulog in hopes of raising farmers’ income and discouraging smuggling.
   Less disparity in the price of rice in Indonesia with that in neighbouring countries reduces the incentive to smuggle the grain.
   The price of unhusked paddy delivered to Bulog now stands at 2,600 rupiah (28 cents) a kilo, while stored rice is sold at 4,300 rupiah.
   Rice prices in Chicago on Thursday reached a record high of more than $25 per pound, or about 50 cents per kilo.
   The government is currently on high alert over the possible illegal export of rice to the Philippines, which is suffering a severe shortage of the grain as Viet Nam, the world’s second-largest rice exporter, has refused to entirely meet the country’s demand.
   Bayu Krisnamurthi, the deputy minister for agriculture and marine sectors at the office of the coordinating minister for the economy, said the President had sent a letter to UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon to take immediate measures in easing speculation in commodity markets.
   Bayu said many global investors had now poured in their money to speculate in the commodity market following the less desirable yields and higher risks due to the recent credit crunch in the United States.
   He said the inflow of the hot money in the commodity speculations had triggered an unprecedented surge in the prices of food crops, including rice, soybeans, palm oil and wheat.

Wheat prices on Saturday declined by Rs 20 a quintal here on increased arrival of new crop from Madhya Pradesh.
   Wheat MP (deshi) prices decreased by Rs 20 to Rs 1220-1470 a quintal on pick up in arrival from Madhya Pradesh and Punjab but wheat dara (for mills) prices remained unchanged at Rs 1045-1090 a quintal on scattered enquiries from rolling flour mills.
   ‘The fall in wheat prices
   was mostly attributed to increased supply from Madhya Pradesh’, said a wholesale wheat trader.
   Meanwhile, other commodities, including rice prices were unaltered on some enquiries.
   Following were today’s quotations per quintal: wheat MP (deshi) 1220-1470, wheat dara (for mills) 1045-1090, chakki atta (delivery) 1110-1115, Chakki atta Rajdhani (10 kgs) 150, shakti bhog (10 kgs) 160, roller flour mill 1105-1110, maida 1200-1215 (90 kilos) and sooji 1225-1240 (90 kgs).
   Rice basmati (lal quila)
   7000, Shri Lal Mahal 7000, Basmati common 6270-6470, Permal raw 1320-1450, permal wand 1550-1650, sela 2100-2250 and rice IR-8 1200-1300, Bajra 675-680, Jowar yellow 700-750, white 1250-1300, Maize 780-800 Barley (UP) 1130-1140 and Rajasthan 1100-1110.

Participants at the UN Conference on Trade and Development Friday pledged to take immediate steps to bolster global food security and to redouble efforts to wrap up the Doha round of trade talks, a statement said.
   ‘UNCTAD XII has been instrumental in addressing some of the most pressing challenges of globalisation such as the global food crisis,’ UNCTAD secretary general Supachai Panitchpakdi said in a closing address.
   As a short-term solution to soaring food prices, participating countries agreed to take measures - they did not specify which ones - to meet developing countries’ urgent humanitarian needs.
   In the medium to longer term they committed to helping individual nations, particularly African countries, less developed countries and net food-importing developing countries, increase food production.
   Soaring food prices, which in recent weeks have led to riots in Haiti and protests in southern Asia and across Africa, have dominated much of the twelfth session of UNCTAD which opened on Sunday in the Ghanaian capital.
   Earlier this week UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon announced he would set up a special task force on the subject.
   The conference participants also recognised that rising food prices present an opportunity to promote economic growth and sustainable development as they act as an incentive for developing countries to make their commodity sectors more productive.
   The conference ‘has also highlighted the development potential of the current commodities boom and the need for measures to harness it better for poverty reduction,’ Supachai said.
   Participants recogised that ‘many developing countries continue to remain on the margins of the globalization process and are lagging behind in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals’.
   The MDGs agreed by all UN member states in 2000, notably call for extreme poverty — defined as living on less than one dollar a day — to be halved by 2015. Other targets include universal primary education and halting the spread of HIV-AIDS.
   The conference participants pledged that helping developing countries remains a key priority of the international community, the statement said. The statement promised renewed efforts, including ‘broadening market access and effectively dealing with trade-distorting non tariff measures’ to speed development and promote integration of such countries into the world economy.
   On the Doha round trade talks the parties said they resolved ‘to redouble efforts towards an expeditious conclusion of the negotiations’.
   The Doha round began in 2001. The talks subsequently ran out of steam but the past two months or so have seen a renewed commitment to getting them completed.
   The participants also agreed the next session of UNCTAD, set for 2012, will be held in Qatar.

US consumer confidence fell for a third straight month in April, hitting its weakest in 26 years, on heightened worries over inflation and the sagging housing market, a survey showed on Friday.
   The Reuters/University
   of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its final index of confidence for April fell deeper into recessionary territory, to 62.6 from 69.5 in March and below economists’ median expectation of 63.2 in a Reuters poll.
   The April result is the lowest since March 1982’s 62.0, when the ‘stagflationary’ period of low growth and high inflation was still an issue for many Americans.
   Short-dated Treasury debt prices briefly edged higher after the release of the data, while stocks briefly turned negative or extended prior losses.
   ‘More consumers reported that their personal financial situation had worsened than any time since 1982 due to high fuel and food prices as well as shrinking income gains and widespread reports of declines in home values,’ the survey said.
   ‘Never before in the long history of the surveys have so many consumers reported hearing news of unfavorable economic development as in the April survey.’
   Nearly nine in 10 consumers thought the economy was now in recession, Reuters/University of Michigan said.
   While a tax rebate will bolster consumer spending, consumers favor ‘by a wide margin’ using the rebate to repay debt and to add to their savings, according to the surveys.
   The report showed its reading on one-year inflation expectations climbed to 4.8 per cent — the highest since a similar reading in October 1990 — from 4.3 per cent in March.
   Five-year inflation expectations rose to 3.2 per cent from 2.9 per cent in March.
   The index of expectations for personal finances fell to 100, the lowest since August 1993, from 112 in March, while the index of current personal finances dropped to 86 in April, which was the lowest since November 1981, from 93 last month.

Britain’s economy got off to a poor start to 2008, as official data showed Friday that first-quarter growth stumbled to a three-year low amid a housing market slowdown and the global credit crunch.
   News of faltering growth — and talk of a potential recession — is a headache for British prime minister Gordon Brown, whose Labour government faces local council elections in England, Wales and Scotland and the London mayoral contest on May 1.
   The British economy grew by 0.4 per cent in the three months to the end of March 2008, the slowest rate since the first quarter of 2005, the Office for National Statistics said in an initial estimate on Friday.
   That marked the third successive quarter of slowing growth and followed 0.6 per cent in the previous three-month period, as the construction and financial services sectors were hit hard by ongoing credit markets turmoil.The gloomy news comes as the country faces ongoing fallout from the global credit crunch, a housing market slowdown, record high oil prices and soaring domestic utility bills.
   ‘The key question is whether the economy experiences a period of stable but softer growth, or if the credit crisis begins to have a more significant impact on activity,’ said Investec economist Philip Shaw.
   ‘We would warn that we have not yet seen the worst effects of the credit squeeze on any of the major economies, and nor do we have a convincing idea of whether the downside risks will be realised.’
   The first quarter was also the first time in three years that growth has fallen under the so-called trend rate — at which analysts reckon the economy can grow without sparking higher inflation. The trend rate is estimated by economists to lie between 0.6 and 0.7 per cent.
   ‘While we continue to believe that the UK will avoid recession, we suspect that it will see an extended period of markedly below-trend growth,’ added Howard Archer at the Global Insight consultancy in London.
   However, Capital Economics analyst Jonathan Loynes said he saw a one in three chance of a recession — which means at least two successive quarters of negative growth.
   ‘We feel that the slowdown in the economy which got underway in the first quarter has much further to go as the economy’s imbalances, not least the overvalued housing market and over-indebted household sector, unwind.

Japan said Friday core inflation hit a fresh decade high of 1.2 per cent in March on rising energy and food costs, creating a dilemma for the central bank with economic growth also slowing.
   Rising fuel and food costs are threatening to hit corporate profits and consumer confidence, but analysts see little prospect of an interest rate rise any time soon to tame inflation because of the poor health of the economy.
   Core inflation, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, picked up from 1.0 per cent in February, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said, matching market expectations.
   It was the sharpest increase in the core consumer price index since March 1998, when there was a sales tax hike. Prices have now risen for six straight months. Including fresh food, prices rose 1.2 per cent.
   Japan’s central bank for years battled to end deflation with an unprecedented policy of virtually free credit.
   But the return of inflation in Asia’s largest economy has also been met with concern among policymakers because it is being driven by rising import costs.
   Soaring prices of oil, raw materials and food are hurting companies and households, while wage and consumer spending growth remains sluggish.
   ‘This kind of cost-push inflation is negative for the Japanese economy,’ said Mamoru Yamazaki, chief economist at RBS Securities in Tokyo.
   Food prices increased 1.6 per cent from a year ago, reflecting a global trend amid higher demand in emerging economies, the growing use of biofuels to combat climate change, and the effect of natural disasters and increased fuel costs.
   ‘Consumer confidence has been showing signs of stabilising, but a renewed acceleration in inflation could again push sentiment lower,’ warned Macquarie Securities economist Richard Jerram.
   Surging oil import costs also continued to have a major impact. But even excluding energy, core consumer prices rose 0.1 per cent, turning positive for the first time in a decade, analysts noted.
   Despite the pick-up in inflation, economists see little chance of an interest rate rise by the Bank of Japan in the foreseeable future given worries about the health of the domestic and global economies.
   ‘I don’t think the BoJ will consider a rate hike in the near future,’ said Yamazaki, who sees a chance of an increase next year if the economy recovers.
   Some analysts even expect a rate cut by the BoJ amid worries that if the United States enters a recession, it could drag Japan down with it.

A group of French lawmakers completing a fact-finding trip to Brazil Friday said they were impressed with the country’s biofuel industry, but that Europe would have to balance that model against the need to guarantee food supplies.
   That dual goal ‘obliges us to plan several mechanisms and regulations in Europe and in France... to ensure food security,’ said Jean Arthius, who led the French senate finance committee on the six-day trip, which ends Saturday.
   The official, a former economy minister, suggested in a briefing in Sao Paulo to reporters that taxes on biofuels could be one form of regulation. He added, though, that he believed high food prices being seen around the world were the result of ‘speculation, which means that we don’t really know the underlying trends.’
   The 11-member delegation, he stressed, was ‘very impressed’ by biofuel and food production in Brazil, which he called ‘the world’s farm.’
   ‘There are certainly paths to be taken to put these new technologies to work in several countries faced with famine or insufficient food,’ he said.
   Another senator, Philippe Marini, said the delegation was especially intrigued by Brazilian refining facilities capable of producing both sugar and ethanol, according to market demand.
   Brazil is the world’s leading producer of ethanol, much of which powers vehicles in the country — 80 per cent of the cars on the road can use either biofuel or petrol, or a combination of both.
   But Brazil is also watching closely the current crisis in several countries caused by rocketing food prices and shortages.
   Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has fiercely rejected claims that ramped-up biofuel production was to blame. Marini, the committee’s rapporteur, added that the senators had encountered some questions in Brazil about Europe’s position in global trade liberalisation talks.
   Those negotiations — the so-called Doha Round sponsored by the World Trade Organization — are making little headway because of reluctance by Europe and the United States to open its agricultural markets, and developing nations holding out against demands they free up their industry and services sectors.

Carlos Fernandez, the head of Argentina’s tax collection agency, took over as economy minister Friday after his predecessor was sacked amid spiralling inflation and anger among farmers.
   Fernandez, 54, an expert on state finance, was sworn in by President Cristina Kirchner at the presidential palace, replacing Martin Lousteau, who left after just four months on the job.
   ‘It is a challenge,’ Fernandez, who is close to Kirchner’s husband, former president Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007), told reporters. ‘I will continue to work to ensure that things go well.’
   Lousteau, 36, left his post as the government struggles to resolve a bitter dispute with farmers who staged a crippling three-week strike last month over a tax hike on soybean exports.
   April 2, the farmers declared a one-month halt to their strike, which was the first major test of the new, four-month-old Kirchner government and, some say, sharply eroded its authority.
   During their 21-day protest, thousands of farmers erected some 400 road blocks in central Argentina, leading to unprecedented shortages of food and raw materials in major urban centres.
   The raising of export tariffs on soya products — an agricultural mainstay of Argentina — from 33 to 44.1 per cent triggered the strike.
   Farmers said that, along with income taxes, transport costs and the high cost of land, it would push many out of business.
   Soybeans are dubbed ‘green gold’ in Argentina for the sky-high prices they fetch on the world commodity market.
   Half of Argentina’s 30 million hectares of farmland are now given over to soybeans, which represent an export income of 24 billion dollars (15 billion euros) a year.
   The confrontation has deepened divisions between Argentina’s upper and middle classes — including many well-off farmers — and the poor class, swollen by the country’s 2001 financial collapse, which supports Kirchner.

The Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited singed an agreement with the Uttara Finance and Investments Limited at the former’s head office in the Dhaka city Thursday.
   Under the agreement, Shahjalal Islami Bank extends an investment facility worth Tk 29.53 crore to Uttara Finance and Investments Limited for Purchasing Lease Assets. Muhammad Ali, managing director of SJIBL, and SM Shamsul Arefin, managing director of UFIL, signed the agreement for their respective sides, said a press release.
   Other senior high officials from both the sides were present at the signing ceremony.

The Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited organised a daylong workshop on ‘credit risk management and documentation’ for the designated officers of concerned divisions/branches of the bank in the Dhaka city on Saturday.
   Md Yeasin Ali, managing director of the bank, inaugurated the workshop, said a press release.
   Additional managing director AHM Nazmul Quadir also attended the inaugural ceremony of the workshop attended by 30 executives/officers from the concerned divisions of head office and branches.
   Md Shams-uddin Ahmed, head of human resources division & training wing of the bank, also spoke in the workshop.

Record-breaking oil prices roared close to 120 dollars this week as traders tracked supply concerns in Britain and Nigeria, and the changing fortunes of the US dollar, analysts said.
   Among other commodities, tin was the other star performer, striking an all-time high above 24,600 dollars per tonne on sliding stockpiles.
   A weak US currency makes dollar-priced raw materials cheaper for foreign buyers and tends to lift demand, whereas a strengthening dollar has the opposite effect.
   The euro hit a historic high 1.6019 dollars on Tuesday, before sinking back below 1.56 dollars in the wake of soft eurozone economic data.
   Oil: New York crude oil hit a record high 119.90 dollars on Tuesday, before dipping in line with the recovering US currency.
   Prices blipped higher on Friday after a vessel chartered by the US military fired warning shots at two speedboats believed to be Iranian that approached it in the Gulf, according to a US defence official.
   London Brent oil hit a record 117.51 dollars on Friday as fears also grew over a looming strike at one of Britain’s biggest oil refineries.
   Workers at the Grangemouth plant, west of Edinburgh in Scotland, are refusing to work on Sunday and Monday in a row over pensions.
   As a result, British energy giant BP may have to close the Forties pipeline that brings in oil from the North Sea and delivers a third of the country’s daily output.
   The industrial action has sparked concern over potential shortages of motor fuel in Britain.
   BP was expected to make a decision on whether the pipeline will have to close on Saturday while the Grangemouth facility could take up to two weeks to get fully up and running again after the strike.
   In Nigeria, the most prominent armed group in the southern oil-producing region said Friday it had sabotaged a supply pipeline belonging to Anglo-Dutch energy group Shell, the latest in recent weeks.
   Shell officials could not immediately confirm the latest attack.
   On Tuesday, Shell announced a production loss of 169,000 barrels per day following the sabotage of its key supply pipelines in the region.
   Royal Dutch Shell, Nigeria’s largest oil operator accounting for around half of the country’s 2.1 million barrels per day output, has seen a wave of attacks on its facilities in recent months.
   Prices were also lifted this week by oil cartel OPEC’s reluctance to raise output in the face of mounting international concern over soaring energy costs.
   By Friday, New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, was higher at 117.74 dollars from 115.77 dollars a week earlier.
   Brent North Sea crude for June jumped to 115.91 dollars from 113.21 dollars.
   Base Metals: Tin prices hit another record peak but all other base metals declined, due largely to the recovering dollar, traders said.
   ‘Consolidation remains the name of the game,’ said William Adams of BaseMetals.com.
   ‘Going forward, the metals most at risk from a stronger dollar are those that have weak fundamentals or have been underpinned by safe-haven buying.’
   The price of tin for delivery in three months meanwhile reached 24,602 dollars per tonne on Thursday, which was the highest reading since 1989 when it was re-introduced on the London market.
   Copper entered consolidation mode after striking a record 8,880 dollars per tonne the previous week on the back of supply disruptions in Chile.
   By Friday, copper for delivery in three months eased to 8,520 dollars per tonne on the LME from 8,610 dollars a week earlier.
   Three-month aluminium slid to 2,959 dollars per tonne from 3,060 dollars.
   Three-month nickel fell to 28,901 dollars per tonne from 29,250 dollars.
   Three-month lead dropped to 2,735 dollars per tonne from 2,810 dollars.
   Three-month zinc was down to 2,235 dollars per tonne from 2,315 dollars.
   Three-month tin jumped to 24,745 dollars per tonne from 21,350 dollars.
   
   Gold And Silver: Gold and silver lost their shine.
   ‘The precious metals complex declined across the board as the dollar rebounded against the euro,’ said BNP Paribas analyst Anne-Laure Tremblay.
   Gold had hit a record 1,032.70 dollars an ounce on March 17, four days after the yellow metal broke through 1,000 dollars for the first time.
   On the London Bullion Market, gold dropped to 891.50 dollars per ounce at Friday’s late fixing from 908.75 dollars a week earlier.
   Silver sank to 16.68 dollars per ounce from 18.18 dollars.
   Platinum And Palladium: Prices of platinum and palladium also fell.
   However, platinum could see more record highs this year on the back of flagging output in South Africa, the independent precious metals consultancy GFMS forecast on Thursday.
   ‘For 2008, we remain positive ... and are forecasting trading between 1,700 and 2,400 dollars per ounce for platinum,’ the London-based group said in its annual report on platinum and sister metal palladium.
   Platinum, used in the production of expensive jewellery and catalytic converters in vehicles, has blazed a record-breaking trail in recent months.
   The white metal hit an all-time high of 2,301.50 dollars on March 7 owing to tightening global supplies.
   South Africa, which produces about 75 per cent of the world’s platinum, has faced dwindling output because of accidents, strikes and major power shortages.
   On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum sank to 1,951 dollars per ounce at the late fixing on Friday from 2,026 dollars a week earlier.
   Palladium was down to 434 dollars per ounce from 451 dollars.
   Cocoa: Cocoa prices climbed higher amid concerns about falling harvests in key producer Ivory Coast.
   ‘The tight supplies and increased demand for the crop are likely to keep pushing up prices in the coming weeks,’ said the Public Ledger.
   By Friday on LIFFE, London’s futures exchange, the price of cocoa for July delivery climbed to 1,492 pounds per tonne from 1,454 pounds a week earlier.
   On the New York Board of Trade, the July cocoa contract rose to 2,773 dollars per tonne from 2,700 dollars.
   Coffee: Coffee prices slid on the prospect of abundant supplies in leading exporter Brazil.
   By Friday on LIFFE, Robusta for July delivery sank to 2,229 dollars per tonne from 2,348 dollars the previous week.
   On the NYBOT, Arabica for July delivery fell to 130.25 US cents per pound from 141.30 cents.
   Sugar: Sugar prices retreated, handing back recent gains made on the back of surging oil prices. Sugar is used to make ethanol — an cheaper alternative to gasoline.

Wall Street has so far had a mostly subdued reaction to corporate earnings released in the past few weeks, but that could be about to change.
   Just about halfway through the first-quarter reporting season, most of the blue chips that make up the Standard & Poor’s 500 index have not pulled any surprises. In fact, stripping out the gloom coming from financial companies like Merrill Lynch & Co. or Citigroup Inc., profits are up 11 per cent year-over-year.
   With this generally good performance, the market hasn’t had the kind of turbulence that some feared before the start of earnings season, and the S&P 500 index has risen about 4 per cent in the past two weeks.
   But the coming week might change the market’s dynamics, as a string of consumer-oriented companies including electronics stores and food companies are scheduled to release their results.
   Wall Street is worried about slowing consumer spending, and these companies might give investors their best indication yet about how much Americans are willing to spend these days.
   ‘We’ve pieced together a decent earnings season so far, and everybody handicapped the financials out of the market,’ said Chris Johnson, president of Johnson Research Group.
   ‘Now the companies that represent the activities of the consumer are going to fall in the crosshairs, and that can tell us more about where this economy is heading.’ Still, Wall Street has some newfound strength going for it — even when investors have encountered disappointing results in recent weeks, the market has been able to right itself.
   When General Electric Co. reported an unexpected 6 per cent drop in profit, the news unnerved investors worried that the financial crisis that gutted investment banks had begun to spread. GE is considered a good indicator of the economy because it has businesses across a number of big sectors.
   The Dow Jones industrials tumbled in response to the report on April 11, but in the following two weeks, investors have stepped back and have been able to examine earnings results as a whole.
   Though financial companies have so far left the S&P 500’s profit growth at a negative 13 per cent, there are still more companies beating Wall Street projections then not.
   ‘We really have two sides to this earnings season between the financials and everyone else,’ said Howard Silverblatt, Standard & Poor’s senior index analyst. ‘And, if we continue this positive news across the board people are going to feel a lot better that we’ll have a much better second half. But, we have to get through those consumer discretionary companies.’
   Indeed, these companies are closely watched because they give Wall Street a glimpse consumer spending, which contributes to two-thirds of the U.S. economy. Any sharp pullback could have disastrous effects.
   Right now, the companies in this sector that have already reported results show a 6.8 per cent decline in profits. This is shaping up to be their fifth-straight quarter of down earnings.
   Some of the big names due to report this coming week include Tyson Foods Inc. on Monday; Office Depot Inc. and Avon Products Inc. on Tuesday; Kellogg Co. and Kraft Foods Inc. on Wednesday; and Burger King Corp. and CVS Caremark Corp. on Thursday.

Strike looms at Scottish oil refinery
The British government on Saturday urged drivers not to hoard gasoline, saying there was plenty to go around despite a looming strike at a Scottish oil refinery that has raised fears of fuel rationing. The 48-hour strike over pension issues, due to begin Sunday at the Grangemouth oil refinery in central Scotland, is expected to disrupt energy supplies and hinder delivery of Britain’s North Sea oil. There is plenty of gasoline and diesel in Scotland to meet demand, government business secretary John Hutton told the British Broadcasting Corp. ‘But of course there is going to be a challenge if people change the way that they consume fuel.’ Gas stations in and around Edinburgh were limiting gas purchases to $40 per visit Saturday, and lines of cars formed beside some pumps. Some stations had run out of gas and diesel by midmorning. Some were charging 1.25 pounds — equivalent to $2.47 — Saturday for a liter of unleaded, up from about 1.08 pounds — $2.14 — on Monday. ‘This is profiteering by the garages and oil companies,’ said Edinburgh motorist Ian Bain, 44. The government wants to avoid a repeat of scenes in 2000 when motorists lined up at gas stations as truckers angry at heavily taxed fuel brought Britain to a standstill by blockading refineries. Refinery owner Ineos shut down production at Grangemouth on Friday before the strike. Oil producer BP PLC said it would shut its Forties Pipeline System, which delivers almost a third of Britain’s North Sea oil production and is powered by electricity and steam from Grangemouth, by 6 a.m. Sunday. The government says the strike could force more than 70 platforms in the North Sea to halt production, at a cost of $99 million a day. Grangemouth is the major oil supplier to Scotland and parts of northern England, and those areas were expected to feel the greatest impact from the strike by 1,200 workers. Pat Waters of the Automobile Association said that despite assurances, ‘people should accept that they will probably be rationed to an amount of petrol to conserve supplies.’
— AP