German States Make Schmallenberg Virus Notifiable Disease

Schmallenberg Virus  could induce birth defects

The German parliament’s upper house, which represents the country’s federal states, made the Schmallenberg livestock virus a notifiable disease, meaning authorities have a legal obligation to report cases, the Agriculture Ministry said.

As other European countries report new cases of the disease, the ministry has called for a European requirement to report outbreaks, it said in a statement on its website today.

The country had 1,117 farms with confirmed cases of the livestock virus as of yesterday, according to a report by the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut. The virus, named after the German town where it was first identified in November, causes stillbirths and deformed offspring in sheep and cattle.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

India releases 4.5 mln tonnes non-levy sugar for Apr-June

India has allowed millers to sell 4.5 million tonnes of sugar from April to June in the open market, up six per cent from the previous quarter, to meet increased demand in summer, a government statement said.

The quantity of non-levy, or free-sale sugar, that millers can sell on the open market is fixed by the federal government.

The quota will now be decided every quarter, instead of monthly.

The sugar mills can sell and deliver not less than 25 per cent of the quarterly quota each month. The remaining 25 per cent can be sold at any time during the quarter.

Millers can also sell last month’s carry over stock of 100,000 tonnes till April 15, a statement from the ministry of food and consumer affairs said.

The Dawn

US farmers boost corn acres to 75-year high

US farmers will expand their corn plantings by 4 percent this spring to the largest in 75 years, topping expectations due to surprise reductions in soyabeans and spring wheat, according to a government survey on Friday.

Soybean prices jumped to hit their highest in six months, extending this year's rally after the Department of Agriculture said farmers would plant 1 percent less of the crop.

Analysts had expected a rise in soya acres.

Nearby corn prices also climbed after separate data showed stockpiles fell 8 percent from a year ago, a bigger decline than analysts had expected.

The two pivotal planting and supply reports are likely to further shift concerns about global food supplies from corn to soyabeans.

The big corn crop means that grain is now expected to rebuild razor-thin inventories next year.

Soybeans, a key source of livestock feed, are up 16 percent this year on fears that South American crops may be damaged by drought.

Overall acreage of the eight major field crops will rise 1.7 percent to the highest since 1998, according to the USDA's annual Planting Intentions surveys of farmers.

But with arable land now running short, the market is focused more than ever on the acreage devoted to each of the country's key crops.

"The surveys overwhelmingly showed the idea we are going to get a lot more corn acres in," said Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics & Consulting.

US farmers will boost corn planting to 95.9 million acres, the most since 1937 and above analyst expectations for 94.72 million acres.

Record amounts are expected to be sown in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Idaho.

Soybean plantings were projected to fall 1 percent from last year to 73.9 million acres, increasing concerns about tightening global supplies of the oilseed due to poor harvests in South America.

Analysts had expected soya plantings to increase to 75.393 million acres.

Farmers are focusing on corn because prices remain lofty after reaching a record high last year on strong demand that drained supplies.

The increase in plantings should boost supplies, which are expected to drop by the end of the crop's marketing year in September to the lowest level since the mid-1990s.

The US corn stockpile fell 8 percent from a year ago to 6.009 billion bushels of corn in storage as of March 1, about 141 million bushels less than traders expected after consumption rose more than anticipated in the quarter, according to the USDA's quarterly report.

But deferred corn contracts that represent the next harvest lagged because of the outlook for massive plantings.

Traders were buying nearby contracts and selling deferred contracts in a practice known as bull spreading.

USDA estimated farmers will plant 12 million acres of spring wheat other than durum, with a record low number of acres seeded in South Dakota.

That is down 3 percent from last year and below the average trade estimate of 13.313 million acres.

USDA's projection for a total wheat planted area of 55.9 million acres was up 3 percent from 2011.

Growers intended to plant 13.2 million acres of cotton, down 11 percent from last year, and 2.56 million acres of rice, down 5 percent, according to the USDA report.

Saudi wheat output seen down nine percent

Following are selected highlights from a report issued by a US Department of Agriculture attache in Saudi Arabia.

"In MY 2012/2013, Saudi Arabia wheat production is forecasted to decline by 9 percent to 1 million tonnes compared to 1.1 million tonnes of MY 2011/2012 level.

Saudi Arabia's total 2012/2013 wheat import is forecasted to reach 2.5 million tonnes due to the increased feed quality wheat imports for animal consumption.

Saudi Arabia's barley imports for 2012/2013 is forecasted to decrease by 9 percent to 6.5 million tonnes compared to 7.2 million tonnes in 2011/2012.

NY cotton ends lower, market awaits USDA report

Cotton futures finished mostly lower o n Thursday in profit-taking off a near two-month high, as players prepared for a long-anticipated government report on cotton sowings in 2012, analysts said.

The benchmark May contract on ICE Futures US fell 0.49 cent to close at 93.07 cents per lb, after dealing from 93.07 to 94.39 cents. Wednesday's close at 94.03 cents was the loftiest on the spot cotton contract since Feb. 7.

Volume came to around 16,850 lots, about 15 percent over the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters data showed.

"I think they're waiting (for the report)," said Sharon Johnson, senior cotton analyst at commodities brokerage Penson Futures in Atlanta.

She was referring to the annual potential plantings report from the US Agriculture Department, due at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) on Friday.

A prime catalyst for the move up was tight supplies in the old-crop May and July cotton contracts.

While world 2011/12 cotton ending stocks were pegged by the US government at a hefty 62.32 million 480-lb bales, Johnson and other traders said the market was discounting the bearish tint of the figure.

She said up to 40 percent of global stocks were in the "hands of China and India", meaning cotton was available only for their mills and "not accessible" for the world market.

The tight supply situation is thus reflected only in May and July, with the new-crop December cotton contract adding 0.03 cent to close at 90.61 cents.

A Thomson Reuters survey of industry participants showed they expect US 2012 cotton sowings to be down about 13 percent from last year, or about 12.74 million to 12.76 million acres, because of higher prices in grains such as soybeans.

In early February, the industry group National Cotton Council had pegged US 2012 cotton sowings at 13.63 million acres (5.5 million hectares), down 7.4 percent from 2011 cotton plantings of 14.72 million acres.

The main reason for the switch in acres, traders say, is the higher price of grains such as soybeans compared with cotton.

Open interest, an indicator of investor exposure, fell for the third day in a row after rising for 12 straight sessions. It stood at 187,509 lots as of March 28.

On Friday, open interest in the cotton market was at 190,909 lots, the highest since Feb. 9, ICE Futures US data showed.

Looming political fight puts US farmers on battlefield

US lawmakers are short on time and money to make the biggest cuts in agriculture in a generation and failure risks unintentionally driving up food prices and adding to an already onerous deficit.

Just as Congress took the country to the brink of an unprecedented debt default by haggling over whether to raise the debt ceiling, fractious Republicans and Democrats may wait this year until the last minute to agree to significant cuts to farm supports amid historically high crop prices.

The US farm law, mammoth legislation that covers everything from food stamps to soil erosion, expires September 30.

Without a new law or an extension, a 1949 law - the bogeyman of farm bill showdowns - would automatically go into effect.

It would limit plantings and have the government pay farmers up to twice what crops would sell for on the open market.

Farm subsidies would rise by tens of billions of dollars and consumer grocery bills would rise while the economy is still struggling to recover from the recession.

There are fiscal and policy obstacles to a new farm law.

"The budget is going to be tough.

The fiscal condition of this country is not in good shape," said Bob Stallman, president of the largest US farm group, the American Farm Bureau Federation.

"The public generally is rejecting these annual income payments."

The outcome could be a factor in the fall elections.

Iowa, the No.

1 corn, soybean and hog state, is one of the toss-up states where the fight between President Barack Obama and the eventual Republican nominee will be the fiercest.

Ohio and Wisconsin, also agricultural powers, are toss-ups.

The Senate is expected to move first on the new farm law.

Agriculture Committee chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, plans a final information-gathering hearing, on crop subsidies, on Wednesday before bill-drafting begins.

She has vowed a bill in the spring.

Meanwhile, the House Agriculture Committee, which is chaired by Oklahoma Republican Frank Lucas, is holding four hearings around the country, ending on April 20, with hearings in Washington as its final preparation for the farm bill.

Two changes are all but certain in the new farm bill - an end to the $5 billion a year "direct payment" subsidy that is paid regardless of need and the return of millions of acres of idle farmland to crop production.

Both would flow from likely cuts of 15 percent or more in crop subsidies and conservation funding.

Direct payments are a top-line target of reformers, who say the payments are wasteful amid an agricultural boom.

Odds are long that the bill can get done because of the legislative gridlock expected by mid-year due to election-year politics and budget pressures.

Congress usually needs a year or more to enact a farm law.

Analyst Mark McMinimy of consultants Guggenheim Partners says "this is about as dysfunctional a Congress as you can remember." But his "low-confidence assumption" is a bill will be enacted this year "because the budget situation is going to be worse next year."

Cargill cuts "pink slime" output, sees hamburger price rise

By 

Meredith Davis

Andrew Stern

Reuters

Agribusiness giant Cargill Inc said on Wednesday it would cut production of meat scraps critics call "pink slime" and said consumer resistance to the filler could lead to higher hamburger prices during the grilling season beginning this spring.

Cargill cuts pink slime output which
would increase hamburger price

Cargill's move came two days after leading producer Beef Products Inc shut down three of four facilities making the filler and said 650 jobs were at risk. Cargill did not say whether any jobs at its plants were affected.

Concern that higher hamburger prices could discourage consumer demand for beef drove down cattle futures prices at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange more than 1 percent on Wednesday.

At issue is a product the meat industry calls "finely textured beef" that is made from the scraps of meat left over from breaking a carcass into cuts such as steaks and roasts. It was widely used as filler in hamburger.

Consumer activists including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver campaigned to ban it, calling it "pink slime" and showing pictures of unsightly globs on television and the Internet.

"Some Cargill customers have eliminated FTB (finely textured beef) from their products. Some Cargill fresh beef customers have asked us to provide ground beef without (it)," Cargill spokesman Mike Martin said in an email to Reuters.

The beef industry was caught off-guard by the campaign, which prompted a flood of consumer complaints and led to supermarket chains and food companies rejecting the product. This could force meat packers to use higher quality beef for hamburger and increase prices.

Supporters of the meat industry on Wednesday fought back, calling the product safe to eat. Iowa Governor Terry Branstad appeared with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Des Moines, Iowa and said consumer activists were conducting a "smear campaign" against meat producers.

Vilsack said the agency would stick with its recent announcement allowing school districts to choose whether they wanted hamburger with filler for school lunches.

Hundreds of school districts had asked the USDA to ban the product from school lunches and government had a duty to respond, Vilsack said.

"Let me reiterate without any equivocation something that we have said hundreds of times ... this product is safe," Vilsack said. "There's no question about it."

The nation's top three supermarket chains -- Kroger Co, Safeway Inc and Supervalu Inc -- all said they would no longer sell hamburger containing the product. Walmart, the nation's largest food seller, said it would no longer use the product in its trays of hamburger.

McDonald's was the first major fast food company to stop buying hamburgers including finely textured beef last August and some other fast food companies quickly followed.

Cargill said it was not completely halting production of the beef product, which is made at four of its five plants.

In another bid to counter the negative image of the product, Branstad will accompany fellow Republican governors Sam Brownback of Kansas and Rick Perry of Texas on a tour of a Beef Products Inc plant in South Sioux City, Nebraska, on Thursday.

Branstad, who said he had been eating the beef filler for 30 years, blamed the campaign against it on people opposed to any meat in the diet and said it could damage his farm state's economy. Iowa is dependent on raising livestock and the corn and soybeans farmers grow to feed the animals.

"There are groups out there that don't like meat consumption, who don't want people eating meat," Branstad said.

Any sharp pullback in demand for beef could put a significant dent in earnings of meat companies, which are gearing up for the spring outdoor grilling season.

Finely textured beef is made by taking the carcass scraps and heating them to separate the fat. Some producers spray it with ammonia to kill bacteria, and then add it to hamburger. The beef industry says the product is 98 percent lean meat.

(Additional reporting Meredith Davis in Chicago and Kay Henderson in Des Moines; Editing by Greg McCune and Bob Burgdorfer; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

Warmest March ever drives US farmers to plant early

Ethan Cox is sowing corn on his 5,000-acre Illinois farm earlier than ever this year, betting that the premium he may collect for delivering an early crop is worth the risk of a damaging late-spring frost.

Lured into the fields by what is so far the warmest March since records began in 1871, Cox is toiling alongside dozens of farmers across the Midwest who have begun seeding what may be a record crop weeks earlier than usual, according to agronomists, farm managers and analysts who keep close tabs on farm activity.

His crop may miss the peak summer heat of July and reap an extra 60 cents a bushel in September if his gamble pays off.

Robust ethanol demand and years of low domestic inventories have placed a near-record premium on corn that can be delivered at the end of summer, when grain bins are empty and before the main harvest.

But the risks are high too: planting so early means forsaking some types of crop insurance; and despite the exceptionally mild winter, odds favour another chill at least once this year.

Only once in the last century has the Midwest avoided frost between mid-March and mid-April.

"It's going in good but we have fear that it might come too quick and a frost will come and kill it," Cox said as he took a break from seeding the first 400 acres on his farm in Greene County south-west of Springfield.

While the vast majority of farmers will opt to wait until nearer April 15, the average last freeze date, anecdotal reports suggest a record number have already begun.

In theory, the early push puts more of the crop at the mercy of mother nature; in Chicago, however, traders are reckoning that eager farmers may decide to seed even more acres early with corn rather than saving space for soy.

The December corn contract, which reflects a harvest-time price, declined each day this week, shedding 3.4 percent to $5.55 per bushel, a two-week low, in a technical sell-off in addition to ideas aggressive planting will produce ample corn.

"The weather is so good thus far that there are reports, and we suspect very good reports, of corn being already planted in Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois," said influential investor Dennis Gartman.

He told Reuters this week that he sold a "very large" portion of his corn position.

Chicago traders said investment funds sold an estimated 36,000 contracts this week, the largest sell-off yet this year.

The stakes are higher than ever this year.

Every bushel of a bumper US corn crop is needed to replenish corn stocks, which are expected to shrink to the smallest in 16 years before the autumn harvest.

Any harvest shortfall could send prices surging back toward their record of $8 a bushel, driving up costs for consumers and meat companies.

Summer-like conditions of clear skies and temperatures in the 70s and 80s degrees Fahrenheit have prevailed this month to stir farm activity weeks earlier than usual, farm experts say.

Soil temperatures across Illinois are above 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius), which is necessary to promote seed germination, according to the Illinois State Water Survey.

It is unclear how many farmers have begun planting so far.

USDA does not issue weekly planting updates until after its prospective plantings report, due March 30.

That report estimates seeding intentions of the major US crops.

"We probably have several thousand acres planted statewide, in that low 1-percent range," said John Hawkins, spokesman of the Illinois Farm Bureau.

"It's more than a handful but less than a mad rush." The state harvested 12.4 million acres last fall.

Last year, USDA put out its first corn plantings estimate on April 11, estimating overall plantings at 3 percent complete, with Illinois 1 percent done.

Most farmers in the Corn Belt do not begin planting corn until the first or second week of April, both because of the likelihood of a killing frost and for insurance purposes.

Crop insurance policies do not cover replanting costs if farmers plant before the earliest seeding date, which in most of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio is April 6.

For top corn growing state Iowa, that date is April 11.

Corn plants can emerge in as little as five days after planting and once the plant is out of the ground it is at risk of being damaged by a frost or a hard freeze.

A "hard freeze" of temperatures at or below 28 degrees F (-2 degrees Celsius) could kill a plant in less than five minutes.

The average last freeze in central Illinois falls on April 15, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Geelhart.

In 1999, the last freeze was on March 29; in 2005, the ground froze in early May.

Elwynn Taylor, Iowa's state climatologist, said that only once, in 1946, during the past 100 years has there not been a frost between mid-March and mid-April.

"There's no reason for it not to be two times out of a hundred.

We are hotter now than we were in 1936, so we are beating the Dust Bowl for this time of year," Taylor said.

Plantings also got off to early starts and quick finishes in 2004 and 2006.

Yield results varied, jumping to 160.3 bushels per acre in 2004, up 18 bpa from the previous year, while the yield in 2006 climbed only 1.2 bpa from the previous year.

Early planted corn can begin pollinating by June, allowing the plants to go through a crucial development stage before the hot weather of July.

Meteorologists widely expect temperatures to remain above normal for the next week to 10 days, with the extended 14-day day forecast also hinting at the continuation of warm weather.

But the greater rationale for early planting is the opportunity to capture a premium for grains delivered to buyers like Cargill Inc or Bunge Ltd before the height of harvest.

Tight supplies last summer pushed cash corn prices to record highs across the region as grain buyers scrambled for the grain to supply the first purchases of US corn by China in four years.

Increasing demand from ethanol refineries, which now use 40 percent of the domestic crop, also has increased demand.

"This early planting means harvest will likely be early as well," said Karl Setzer, analyst at MaxYield Co-operative in West Bend, Iowa.

"A result of this will be the ability to pick up the (price) increase in the market between old and new crop.

In many cases this will add $1.50 of revenue to a bushel of corn."

Cox knows that too.

He inked a contract to deliver 40,000 bushels, roughly 15 percent of his harvest, to an export terminal owned by CGB Enterprises Inc along the Illinois River in Naples.

If he delivers the grain in the first half of September, he will earn a 60-cent-per-bushel premium, bringing his total to $7.60 per bushel, a haul of $304,000.

It would be his most valuable contract ever.

If the corn is not ready until the second half of the month, he forfeits the premium.

Cox, however, also has a second motive behind the rush.

"Our oldest daughter is expecting her second grandchild around the first of April," he says, "so I wouldn't mind getting the work done so I can spend a few days with them.

Brazil soy crop sales rise: Celeres

Sales of Brazil's 2011/12 soybean crop rose to 65 percent of the total expected production of 69.8 million tonnes, up from 58 percent a week earlier, analysts Celeres said on Monday.

Harvest is peaking across the main center-west and southern soy belts, where rain has been less than optimal this year and will keep the world's No 2 soybean producer from surpassing last year's record harvest.

Grain futures markets are percolating on concerns of the dry weather over Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, which together account for over half the world's trade in soybeans, an important source of protein.

Celeres said harvest had reached 68 percent of the crop area by March 23, up from 58 percent in the week prior.

Last year at this time, 56 percent of the crop had been collected.

The No 1 soybean state Mato Grosso, No 2 soy state Parana and No 4 soy state Goias were the most advanced in harvest.

The south is due to get rain early this week that should help parched crops that are still developing but will not reverse losses already caused by the drought in the region since November.

Niche suppliers only small part of mango market

Jim Offner

The Packer

Pakistan is the newest presence in the U.S. mango market, although, so far, it’s a small one.

The first shipments of Pakistan’s fragrant Chaunsa variety arrived in the U.S. in July 2011 — the heart of Pakistan’s export season — a year after having received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Only limited quantities — three shipments totaling less than 15,000 pounds — arrived. The fruit has to be flown into Chicago and then transported to APHIS-licensed Sadex Corp. irradiation facility in Sioux City, Iowa, for mandatory treatment.

It makes for an expensive piece of fruit, acknowledged Harlan Clemmons, Sadex president.

“The volumes kind of made it expensive just from the standpoint of setups and things like that,” Clemmons said March 13.

Any volume less than about 20,000 pounds will push the cost of treatment up to about 20 to 25 cents per pound, Clemmons said.

“Typically, if it were packaged properly and in larger volumes, I really think you can get that number down to somewhere between 10 and 15 cents per pound,” he said.

Smaller volumes require extra charges, he said.

In spite of the cost factor, there seems to be ample interest in Pakistani fruit, Clemmons said.

“There was close to 80 different importers that had contacted us showing interest in moving the product and, this year, we’ve had a few contacts from importers that brought product in last year, as well as a few additional importers wanting to increase the volume of mangoes coming in from Pakistan,” he said.

Clemmons said he can envision his company treating volumes approaching 50,000 pounds a year in the future.

“The interest is there on our part, it’s there on APHIS’ part and on the importers’ part,” he said. “I think the opportunity for growth is there.”

The U.S. mango landscape is dominated by production from the Western Hemisphere — chiefly Mexico, Peru, Guatemala and Brazil — and logistics costs likely will limit the number of shipments from Eastern Hemisphere countries like India, Pakistan and Thailand, according to shippers and marketing agents.

“We know that Thailand and India and Pakistan are big producers and they are shipping some mangoes to the U.S., and we even understand that mangoes from the Philippines are coming in,” said William Watson, executive director of the National Mango Board.

Alphonsos and Kesars from India debuted in the U.S. in 2007. They are irradiated before they leave India, Clemmons noted.

Soy retreats from 6-month high, wheat sinks (28-03-12)

US soybean futures were lower and down from a six-month high on Tuesday as traders booked profits ahead of highly anticipated crop reports due at the end of the week.

Soybeans for May delivery were down 9-1/2 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $13.70 a bushel by 12:50 p.m. CDT (1750 GMT) at the Chicago Board of Trade.

Wheat also came under pressure, with the May contract down 17 cents, or 2.6 percent, at $6.42-1/2 a bushel on lessening concerns that poor weather will hurt global production.

Talk of beneficial rain in the dry crop areas of western Europe weighed on wheat prices, said Jason Britt, president of Central States Commodities.

The outlook for the US crop brightened a bit, as well. The US Department of Agriculture rated 59 percent of wheat in Kansas, the country's top producer, as good or excellent, up from 54 percent a week earlier.

"There's been a little concern going back and forth on some of this weather," Britt said.

All the activity was overshadowed by uncertainty about USDA quarterly inventory and prospective plantings reports due on Friday. The department's estimates often cause wild price swings.

Traders took money off the table after soybeans had climbed on Monday on increasing concerns about drought reducing output in South America. Crop losses in South America have increased demand for US soybeans, with the US Department of Agriculture reporting private exporters struck a deal to sell 120,000 tonnes to top importer China.

In a move to even out positions ahead of the reports, some speculative traders were unwinding long soybean/short corn spreads, said Tim Hannagan, analyst for PFG Best.

"They made the spread (Monday) and bought the beans, sold the corn," he said. "Today they just unwound it as part of the balancing act. This is a week when funds don't want to add more risk to their longs."

The USDA will estimate soybean inventories as of March 1 at 1.387 billion bushels, up from 1.249 billion bushels a year earlier, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.

Corn traders also nervously awaited the data, as corn futures have tumbled by the daily trading limit on the day of the past three quarterly inventory reports.

"Everybody keeps staring out there at Friday's numbers and they get more and more confused about what they should see or not see," said Jerry Gidel, analyst for Rice Dairy.

The USDA's last quarterly stocks report on Jan. 12 pegged corn supplies as of Dec. 1 at 9.642 billion bushels -- 251 million bushels more than the average trade estimate for 9.391 billion.

The USDA on Friday is expected to estimate corn stockpiles at about 6.15 billion bushels, down from 6.523 billion a year earlier, according to the Reuters poll.

However, firm basis levels indicate inventories may be even tighter, said Jim Gerlach, president of A/C Trading.

"Everybody is just absolutely terrified of what the USDA might tell us on Friday," he said.

Corn futures were slightly lower, with the May contract sliding 3-3/34 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $6.34 a bushel. The market had been slightly higher in earlier dealings.

Egypt's GASC seeks wheat for May 11-20 shipment

The Egyptian state's main wheat-buying agency, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), on Tuesday set a tender to buy an unspecified amount of wheat from global suppliers for May 11-20 shipment.

Nomani Nomani, vice chairman of GASC, one of the world's biggest state importers of wheat, said the agency is seeking to buy cargoes of soft and/or milling wheat from the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Britain, Argentina, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Romania.

Australia: Greens press for live cattle export ban law

The Federal Opposition has attacked the Greens for reintroducing a bill into the Senate proposing that Australia completely ban live cattle exports.

Shadow agriculture spokesman John Cobb says the Greens are on the warpath and aim to destroy one of Australia's largest agricultural industries.

He says the cattle industry has the highest in animal welfare standards in the world.

If live cattle exports are banned, he says, other countries with far worse practices will fill the market.

"The Greens need to decide if their main interest is animal welfare or destroying an Australian industry," he said.

"Because, there is nothing surer, if Australia withdraws from these export markets then animal welfare around the world will take a very big backward step."

Sugar slides three percent after India okays more exports

Sugar futures fell more than 3 percent on Monday after a widely expected decision by India to approve a further 1 million tonnes of exports of the sweetener, but the rest of the softs complex dawdled due mainly to a dearth of leads.

Cocoa futures crawled higher, while coffee futures traded mixed in modest dealings.

New York's May raw sugar contract tumbled 0.85 cent, or 3.3 percent, to close at 24.78 cents per lb.

London May white sugar futures fell $10.90, or 1.65 percent, to settle at $648.80 per tonne.

India has decided to allow an extra 1 million tonnes of unrestricted white sugar exports, a government source said, in line with industry expectations for the world's second-biggest producer of the sweetener.

"There was anticipation the Indians would (sell)," said Jack Scoville, analyst at The Price Group.

The rest of the softs complex is probably "in a sideways trend." The contract had peaked at 26.20 cents on March 20, a three-week high for the front month, bolstered by concerns over the outlook for Brazilian production due to prolonged dry weather.

Speculators piled into raw sugar futures and options on ICE Futures US in the week to March 20, coinciding with the day sugar hit that three-week peak before a sell-off.

"It is not out of the question that we could see a sharp drop in a session as a result of stops," said Nick Penney of broker Sucden Financial.

The state-run Thai Cane and Sugar Corp (TCSC) sold 79,333 tonnes of sugar from the next 2012/13 crop to international trading houses in a tender on Monday, a senior official said.

Cocoa futures climbed as concerns over difficulties in sourcing quality beans from top producer Ivory Coast underpinned values.

May cocoa on ICE rose $24, or 1.04 percent, to close at $2,331 a tonne.

London May cocoa added 31 pounds, or 2.07 percent, to finish at 1,513 pounds a tonne.

Drew Geraghty, a commodity broker at ICAP North America in New Jersey, said short-covering was supporting cocoa.

Speculators raised their net short position in cocoa futures and options by 1,990 lots to 21,336 lots in the week ended March 20.

Price differentials in the European cash cocoa market eased last week on ample supplies, but traders were concerned that crop prospects and lack of clarity on forward-sales auctions in Ivory Coast could tighten the market by the end of 2012.

Flowers and pods on cocoa trees in some of Ivory Coast's main growing areas were drying up and dying after two weeks without rain, farmers said.

Coffee futures traded mixed The May arabica coffee contract rose 0.05 cent to end at $1.788 per lb.

Benchmark Liffe May robusta coffee futures fell $18 to close at $2,015 a tonne.

Keith Flury, a senior soft commodities analyst with Rabobank, said coffee roasters appeared to be well stocked, and physical buying was subdued.

Arabicas gained for the second straight day, although volume was light.

The key May contract remained technically oversold on the 14-day relative strength index.

Speculators continued to increase their net short position last week, when it rose to 20,544 lots, the biggest such position in arabica futures and options since such data became available in 2006.

Kenya sees wheat production almost tripling

A farmer irrigating his field via tractor in Kenya

Kenya expects its 2012 wheat output to almost triple compared with the previous year buoyed by increased planting and favourable weather forecasts, the Agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.

It expected to harvest 6.3 million 90-kg bags of wheat in 2012 up from the 2.2 million realised last year when prolonged drought slashed production in its main crop season.

Kenya is a net importer of wheat, with consumption of about 900,000 tonnes per year.

In past years annual production has stood at an average of 350,000 tonnes, implying it usually imports close to two-thirds of its requirements.

It mainly imports wheat from Egypt and Mauritius through the trade bloc the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

The ministry said the overall food situation in east Africa's largest economy was likely to remain stable over the next six month months as harvesting of crops grown during the short rains season and imports of key staples continue.

Kenya said it expected a surplus of 39,218 90-kg bags of maize by August, due to improved harvests from its long and short rainy seasons and a steady flow of free imports.

The ministry said its maize stocks as of February 29 stood at 18.94 million bags having dropped from 19 million at the end of January due to local consumption, with the state-run National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) holding 2.3 million bags.

The east Africa nation said it planned to import 1.35 million 90-kg bags of maize from regional and international markets between March and August 31 to bolster supplies.

Malaysian palm futures hit one-year high

Malaysian palm oil futures extended gains to a one-year high on Monday as strong exports data and drought woes in soy-producing South America boosted investor sentiment.

Agriculture markets, including palm oil, are set to face choppy trade ahead of the US prospective plantings report due on Friday, which will gauge output of soybeans that is usually crushed into competing soybean oil.

Palm oil has gained 8.9 percent since the start of 2012 on Asian demand chasing sluggish production, limited soyoil supplies flowing from South America although now any prospect of higher US soy harvests may rein in gains.

The market got a further boost after leading industry analyst Thomas Mielke said later in the day that soy prices would hit above $14 a bushel in the next four to eight weeks as the severe drought hits the crops in Brazil and Argentina.

"Export is still very firm, crude oil price is still high and bean and corn are fighting over acreage," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage.

"With all these factors going on, and a sudden surge of Chinese demand expected, the market's very supportive.

The uptrend is still on, and a strong resistance will be at 3,500 ringgit," the trader added.

Benchmark June palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 1.0 percent at 3,459 ringgit ($1,123) per tonne after going as high as 3,479 ringgit, a level unseen since last March.

Traded volumes stood at 23,949 lots of 25 tonnes each, slightly lower than the usual 25,000 lots.

Malaysian exports rose 7.7 percent for the first 25 days of March from a month ago, according to cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services, continuing a strong export trend seen in the month.

Another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance reported a 6.6 percent increase in exports for the same period.

Traders are keeping an eye on the US Department of Agriculture planting forecasts due at the end of the month to gauge soybean output for the year.

A Reuters survey of 25 market watchers said soybean acreage could rise this year as a futures market rally over the winter boosted enthusiasm for the crop.

Market players will also be eyeing comments from leading analyst Dorab Mistry, who will be presenting his outlook on edible oils this year at the China Oils and Oilseed Conference in Beijing on Tuesday after Mielke's presentation on Monday.

Oil prices traded under $125 per barrel on Monday, pausing for breath after a rally of around 1.5 percent the previous session, and as renewed worries about the financial stability of the eurozone returned to the fore.

In other vegetable oil markets, the most active US soyoil contract for May delivery gained 0.5 percent in Asian trade while the most active September 2012 soyoil contract on China's Dalian Commodity exchange jumped 1.4 percent.