Ag News Briefs

The following are news briefs on issues affecting agriculture from around the nation and world.

(LAST UPDATED: 12/29/2017 AT 09:27 A.M. CST)

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Cameroon to Develop New Rice Farms, Cut Imports

(Dow Jones) -- Cameroon could see its rice production rise in the next two years with the opening of 7,000 new hectares of rice farms that will help the African nation cut its import of the crucial crop, a top official said Friday.

"Our top priority is to invest 2.8 billion Central African francs in 2018 on the opening of 7,000 hectares of new rice farms, as well as farm-to-market roads, said the general manager of the state-run Upper Nun Valley Development Authority, or UNVDA, Eric Akongnui Andangfung.

With UNVDA's output of 20,000 metric tons of the West African nation's rice output of 150,000 tons of yearly rice harvest, Cameroon imports at least 500,000 metric tons of rice each year to meet growing rice demand.

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Global Oil Glut May Last Beyond October 2018

(Dow Jones) -- Although oil inventories in industrialized countries kept declining this autumn, the glut may last beyond October 2018, Vienna-based consultancy JBC says, vindicating OPEC's decision to maintain oil curbs until the end of next year. According to the latest data by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, another 45 million barrels of stocks were shaved off total inventories in industrialized nations in October. That brought the inventory surplus compared to the 5-year average to some 110 million barrels--a surplus OPEC wants to bring to zero. Assuming a balanced market going forward, the difference compared to the 5-year average is set to drop to 60 million barrels by October-2018, thanks to a continuous rise in the 5-year average benchmark itself, JBC says.

(BE)

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