Esther Tanquintic-Misa

The annual consumer price index (CPI) of India has hit 7.65 per cent for January compared over a year ago, hinting efforts to moderate prices are working. Albeit higher than wholesale price index (WPI), the latest CPI likewise suggests a rate cut by the central bank might not occur sometime soon.

Taiwan's largest steel producer, China Steel Corp, on Tuesday announced it is poised to dispense some $110 million or AU$102 million to buy the share of output rights at the MDL 162 coal mine site in the northern state of Queensland, Australia.

Spot gold grew on Tuesday, albeit marginally, in what could be seen as a festive carry over from Monday's positive improvements in the eurozone and China's easing of the reserve requirements ratio for itsbanks.

In a bid to avert experiencing the same fate of its fellow Asian neighbor, China's National Energy Administration (NEA) on Monday announced it has started a series of 13 research and development projects aimed to improve emergency response mechanisms in cases of "extreme disasters" related to nuclear power plants failure, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Imports of the chilled liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the world's third largest economy rose to a record high in January as Japan continues to veer away from nuclear power dependency, shutting down on Monday another clear reactor damaged as a result of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit the resource-poor country.

Positive developments with the euro zone set to approve a second bailout for Greece as China slashed its banks' reserve requirements ration helped pave a generally good start for major commodities this week.

Gold imports by China in the last quarter of 2011 have overtaken those by India, recognized top global importer of the precious safe haven yellow metal, during the same quarter, and it is most possible that China will snatch that title from its neighbor and fellow Asian emerging economic leader this 2012.

A proposal on how to address five remaining sets of preconditions is holding up the temporary operating license earlier approved by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board of Malaysia for Australian miner Lynas Corp.

The raging two-year drought that continues to affect Chile has made copper producers concerned as to how to source electricity generation to adequately support their operational requirements.

The raging two-year drought brought by La Niňa that continues to affect Chile has made copper producers concerned as to how to source power generation to adequately support their operational requirements.

India, in a bid to support government revenues in light of a deepening and stretching fiscal deficit, plans to sell some of its interests in state-run firms, Dow Jones Newswires reported, quoting an unnamed senior official connected with India's finance ministry.

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee admitted that the country's inflation rate is still at a high and hopes that it could lower in March.

Shareholders of Murchison Metals have approved on Monday the sale of the company's 50 percent interest hold in the Jack Hills iron ore mine and its affiliated Oakajee Port and Rail project in Western Australia to joint venture partner, Mitsubishi Corp of Japan. The deal was worth A$325 million ($347 million).

An undisclosed company has offered a A$165 million ($177 million)takeover bid to WestSide Corporation, one of many coal-seam gas (CSG) exploration companies in Australia's Queensland state, effectively prompting shares of the company to jack up on Tuesday.

Global top-class brands such as Hermes, Gucci and Louis Vuitton may well heave a sigh of relax because China's appetite for luxury brand items will linger on a little longer despite a projected massive economic slowdown.

Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS), South Korea's state-run gas company, announced on Monday it would be importing in 2012 a total of 36.46 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG), or 1.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, presumably to ensure a steady and constant supply of the commodity for domestic purposes.

Commodities from copper to crude oil, in three years to five years, may plummet anywhere from 50 per cent to 70 percent from existing level prices as a domino effect of a China potentially falling into a recession by 2015, a mutual fund CEO said.

The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan on Monday said the country had imported a total of 5.23 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in January, compared over 4.12 million tonnes a year earlier.

On Friday, most of the world's crucial commodities line-up was down spurred by weak Chinese economic data, losses in the euro and renewed problems in Greece over a failed negotiation for its bailout deal.

Official data from China's Bureau of Custom confirm that exports and imports by the world's second-largest economy had indeed fallen this January from a year ago.

On Thursday, the governments of China and Canada renewed yet again their bilateral ties over a planned sale of some $3 billion uranium yellowcake exports to the world's second-largest economy.

As a definite effect of the continuing sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone, coupled with the fiscal weakness also happening in the United States, China had braced itself for a less than favorable performance of its exports during the first month of the year.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan on Wednesday announced it has earmarked some $65 million in subsidies in a bid to encourage Japanese manufacturers to reduce their reliance and consumption of precious rare earth metals and minerals, as well as spur the development of new technologies, to aid in their various products and services.

Discounting objections from human rights activists related to a December riot in Kazakhstan, Germany had forged on Wednesday a rare earths and technology agreement swap with the Central Asian nation, where the European giant gains access to the latter's abundant rare earths and other raw minerals in exchange for technological advancement and investment.

China has vehemently denied it had signed an agreement with Japan over its rare earths supply, and never ever will there be in the future.

By end February, residents and travellers plying the routes of China's municipality of Beijing will slowly get to experience inhaling cleaner air as the municipality government undertakes to introduce the first batch of liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered public buses.

The global fiscal crisis that has been going for five years now had surely caught, and affected, most global economies unprepared and debilitated. Fact is the present ongoings now in the eurozone. But not China. Regardless of the real and present danger of a potential hard landing economic scenario, China had already prepared itself to face this.

Boosted by the international sale of its 12-year old bonds early this month, the gold and foreign- currency reserves held by South Africa has risen by 5.3 per cent at end January over the previous month, its most in almost two years, data from the Reserve Bank showed on Tuesday.

China is likely to experience power supply outages this year, with a shortage estimated to reach up to 40 million kilowatts (kW) compared from 30 million kW in 2011, driven by a supply shortage of the raw commodity coal.