Chinese workers work at a steel market in Zhengzhou in central ChinaÕs Henan province March 10. (Reuters Photo)

BEIJING, March 12-- Chinese steel futures, banned a decade ago, may soon stage a come-back as officials seek to protect companies from dramatic price fluctuations in the crucial commodity, state media said Saturday.
The Shanghai Futures Exchange has submitted an application to the China Securities Regulatory Commission for permission to start trading in the instrument, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Steel futures can help "protect China's pricing rights" on international markets, said Xiao Hui, a researcher at Shanghai Futures Exchange.
Steel futures were first introduced in 1994, but frantic, uncontrollable speculation caused them to be banned again within months.
It was part of an overall sweeping crackdown on the futures industry, when a number of exchanges were closed down and a series of futures products abolished.
Now, China is again warming to the risk-hedging instrument and has introduced oil, cotton and corn futures within the past year.
The rethink of the entire futures concept has come about as the need to protect key industries from price fluctuations has become ever more urgent against the backdrop of China's expanding market economy.
China's boom, reflected in economic growth of 9.5 percent last year, has led to a rapid increase in the demand of steel, with a palpable impact on global markets.
From 2000 to 2003, Chinese steel demand grew by an average 23 percent a year, and it now consumes nearly a third of the world's supply of the commodity.
Steel demand is unlikely to decelerate anytime soon, given the ambitious plans of several key industries in China.
China hopes to become the world's largest shipbuilding nation in the coming years, He Rongguang, president of Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industrial Co., told Xinhua in a separate report.

WASHINGTON, March 12--Americans' insatiable demand for imported goods drove the US trade deficit up to $58.3 billion in January, the second-highest level on record, the government reported Friday, AFP said.
Analysts predicted the deficit would soon hit new peaks and put more pressure on the ailing US dollar in the absence of action by President George W. Bush's administration or stronger growth in Europe and Japan.
The trade gap was up 4.7 percent from a revised $55.7 billion in December, the Commerce Department said, and not far off the record deficit of 59.3 billion seen in November.
Market watchers were taken aback by the data, having forecast the January shortfall in goods and services at $56.8 billion.
"The US is still the engine of global growth and the trade deficit is a side-effect of that," commented Ethan Harris, chief US economist at Lehman Brothers.
"It's not, long term, a very healthy environment," he said, while predicting the deficit will only worsen if Bush continues to oversee a deterioration in both the current account and budget deficits.
Trade across US borders hit new highs in January, the Commerce Department said. Imports were up 1.9 percent to $159.1 billion, much more than expected by economists, and exports gained 0.4 percent to 100.8 billion. Imports of consumer goods led the increase, rising $2.0 billion, with automotive vehicles, parts and engines as well as capital goods accounting for much of the rest.
IXIS Corporate and Investment Bank economist Marie-Pierre Ripert said that for once, oil prices could not be blamed for the increasing US deficit, with imports of crude having declined 8.0 percent by value in January.
Instead, she said, the deficit "reflects the strength of the domestic demand".
"The trade deficit is likely to continue to widen in 2005 even if the dollar declines further," Ripert said.
The greenback has been falling against major world currencies due in part to investors fretting over the long-term economic impact of widening US deficits. The latest trade release depressed it even further. The euro rose to 1.3464 dollars in late London trade from 1.3417 dollars just ahead of the news.
But equally, the US economy is gaining in strength compared to the lackluster performances of Europe and Japan, fuelling the demand for imports.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 12--Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden, the European Union's main paymasters, are seeking to fork over less into the collective pot, a diplomat said Friday, AFP reported.
In a joint document, the three countries accused a proposal by the EU's executive commission calling for the rebate Britain won in 1984 to be replaced by a discount for all members as not going far enough, the diplomat said.
EU governments are gearing up for skirmishes over the EU's budget for the 2007-2013 period at a March 22-23 summit. The EU's Luxembourg presidency is aiming for a deal at the summit after that, in June.
Negotiations over the budget have so far been marred by a division between EU paymaster states like Britain, France and Germany reluctant to stump up more cash and the commission, the EU's executive arm, which wants more.
The commission's proposal has found little favor with member states and Britain has rejected that its rebate be put into question.
Under the commission's proposal, EU countries net contributions to the group budget would be limited to a maximum of 0.35 percent of gross national income.
The Netherlands, Germany and Sweden's current share of the budget amounts to 0.56 percent, 0.54 percent and 0.50 percent respectively of GNI.
According to their calculations, the commission's proposal would only reduce their contribution by 0.04 to 0.06 percent of GNI, which the three countries judged to be insufficient.
Six EU net contributor states--Britain, France, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and Sweden--are pushing for a spending cap of one percent of GNI for the 2007-2013 period.

Edmund Daukoru

ABUJA, Nigeria,
March 12--The Nigerian government unveiled plan on Friday to increase its share of the revenue from its multi-billion dollar oil industry while expanding the search for fresh fields into its arid far north, AFP reported.
Nigerian oil production has thus far been concentrated in the Niger Delta swamps and the coastal waters of the Gulf of Guinea but on March 22 government will begin seeking bidders for a swathe of new licenses on land and offshore.
President Olusegun Obasanjo's petroleum adviser, Edmund Daukoru, said that firms hunting for fresh supplies of oil and natural gas would be able to bid for the rights to 63 promising exploration blocks.
While 12 of the blocks are in deep water in the Atlantic and another 12 in the Niger Delta, the rest are in Anambra, the Benue river valley and the basin around Lake Chad in Nigeria's poverty-stricken mainly-Muslim northeast.
"These inland basins have become all the more important as the world moves into a scenario in which gas plays a fast increasing role in the energy mix," Daukoru said, in a public briefing on the upcoming auction.
Nigeria is currently the world's ninth largest oil producer, accounting for 2.5 million barrels per day, and Obasanjo hopes to hit 2.7 mbpd this year and 4.5 million by 2010 as the deep undersea fields come fully on line.
Despite the rapid growth of the 40-year-old industry, however, most of Nigeria's 133 million citizens have seen little return from a capital-intensive but low labor force activity plagued by corruption and mismanagement.
Daukoru said this year's bidding round will correct some of these problems by spreading oil exploration into previously marginal areas, encouraging local contractors to participate and increasing government's share of the pie.
Nigeria's "deep offshore has become one of the most prolific deepwater provinces in the world. However, the fiscal terms ... are now less favorable to government than in other parts of the world," he said.
Accordingly, Nigeria will introduce a production charge, or "royalty", on offshore production contracts and reduce the size of the blocks on offer to the international standard of 1,250 square kilometers from 2,500, he said.
In addition, the government will seek to modify the terms of so-called "production sharing contracts", which have proved controversial.

KUWAIT CITY, March 12--Kuwait's trade surplus rose a massive 66 percent in 2004 from a year earlier due to soaring oil revenues, the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) said Saturday, AFP reported.
CBK said surplus on December 31, 2004 reached $16.4 billion, compared to $9.9 billion a year earlier.
The emirate's total exports reached $28.4 billion in 2004, of which $26.3 billion, or 92.6 percent, were oil exports. Imports in the same period were worth $12 billion.
Kuwait's trade balance hit a surplus of $12.8 billion in 2000 due to a sharp increase in oil prices that year. It dropped to $6.5 billion in 2002.
The Persian Gulf Arab state has posted about $21 billion in budget surpluses in the past five years and is well on track to boast a record surplus in the current fiscal year 2004/2005, which ends March 31.
Kuwait calculates its oil revenues at a conservative price of $15 a barrel but the actual price of Kuwaiti crude has touched $40 in the past few weeks.

NEW DELHI, India, March 12--India's booming information technology industry is having a significant multiplier effect, powered by a rising class of younger consumers with high disposable incomes, a study said on Friday, Xinhuanet.com reported.
With the IT sector becoming one of the biggest employment generators in the country, it has spawned a number of ancillary businesses in tourism, transportation, real estate and catering, said a study issued by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), the industry's professional body.
There are several industrial sectors that are being positively affected by the rapid growth in the software development and outsourcing businesses.
"The sudden increase in disposable income in the hands of a relatively young and unattached section of society is contributing to the rapid growth in demand for consumer products," the study added.
In the fiscal year 2004-05, the Indian IT and IT Enabled Services (ITES) industries are estimated to create the demand for nearly 12,500 passenger cars, over 80,000 two-wheelers and 150,000 mobile phone subscriptions.

PARIS, March 12--The Paris Club of creditor nations said Friday it had agreed with the government of Kyrgyzstan to a reduction of the former Soviet country's public external debt, AFP reported.
The agreement follows the International Monetary Fund's approval of the country's arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility on Feb. 25, the Paris Club said in a statement. "Given the commitment by the Kyrgyz authorities to policies that will secure an exit from the Paris Club and to seeking comparable treatment from their other external creditors, Paris Club creditors granted a comprehensive debt treatment," it said.
The agreement cancelled an equivalent $124 million due on loans and credits contracted by the country before August 31, 2001 and of debts previously rescheduled by the Paris Club. In addition, it rescheduled $431 million.
"This debt restructuring will make an important positive contribution to the Kyrgyz Republic's economic outlook," the Paris Club said. "It allows the Kyrgyz Republic to restore the sustainability of its external public debt."
To take into account the capacity of the republic's payment, moratorium interest was to be capitalized at 85 percent in 2005, 75 percent in 2006, 70 percent in 2007 and 65 percent in 2008.
Those interest amounts were to be repaid over 23 years, including seven years of grace.

SINGAPORE,
March 12--The United Arab Emirates is aiming to start talks on a free-trade agreement with Singapore before the end of the year after the countries signed an economic pact, a report said Saturday.
The Straits Times quoted visiting Emirati Minister of Economy and Planning Sheikha Lubna Khalid Al-Qassimi as proposing that a feasibility study for the planned free-trade pact be carried out and completed within six months.
Qassimi and Singapore Trade Minister Lim Hng Kiang on Friday signed an economic and technical cooperation accord covering trade, industry, transport and logistics services, infrastructure development, oil and gas, education, tourism and investments.
A Singapore trade ministry press statement issued late Friday said the pact would lead to negotiations for a full-blown FTA between the countries, although it did not give a timetable.
The two ministers also witnessed the signing of an accord on cooperation between the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority.
It will cover staff training and exchange of expertise and information between the two financial regulators, the statement said.
The UAE is Singapore's second largest trading partner in the Middle East, with total trade reaching 6.55 billion Singapore dollars (4.0 billion US) in 2004.
Singapore, a small Southeast Asian city-state, has launched a campaign to broaden ties with the Middle East, tapping former prime minister and currently Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong as its pointman for the region.
Goh, who visited the Middle East last month, has spoken about opportunities for Singapore and Asian businesses there.

MINSK, Belarus, March 12-Belarus's authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko refused to yield on the imposition of 18-percent value added tax on imported goods from Russia which had prompted massive protests all over Belarus by enterpreneurs the tax may drive out of business, AFP reported.
However, the businesses would have a grace period until July 1 that would not see them fined for tax irregularities, Lukashenko told the protesters' representatives late Friday, 10 days after small retailers all over Belarus launched a strike.
"For me you are also human. For all that there is only 60,000 of you, not much by political standards, but you are people, with families," Lukashenko said.
Some 5,000 entrepreneurs took to streets in each of Belarus's major cities of Minsk, Grodno and Mogilev, protesting the VAT that is due to add to their regular taxes starting March 1 and reduce their meager profits to almost nothing.
Official estimates register some 150,000 small retailers shuttling cheap low-quality goods from Russia on Belarus's 510 markets. Independent analysts said that up to 500,000 people could be living off the shuttlers' business. "It is the state that is guilty of this sector's existence. Many doctors, teachers, engineers had to resort to this when their enterprises were shut down," Lukashenko admitted.
The traders are angry that their Russian suppliers--who no longer have to pay VAT on the goods they sell to Belarus under a new bilateral agreement that shifts the fiscal burden to the Belarussian buyers--have not reduced their prices accordingly.