Briefs

Press, 9 January 1986, Page 18

Briefs

Coffee soars Coffee prices have soared to their highest for more than eight years on the London futures market after Brazil estimated its crop would be almost halved by drought. Contracts smashed the £3OOO (SNZB64O) per tonne barrier, coffee for March delivery hitting a high of £3090, £234 up on the previous close. The buying spree followed publication of an official Brazilian Coffee Institute (IBC) estimate putting the 1986/87 crop at a mere 16.7 M bags. The IBC has estimated the previous year’s crop at 29.6 M bags of 60 kg. In normal years, Brazil supplies almost one-third of world coffee exports but its crop has been decimated by several months of disastrous drought. Air N.Z. loan Air New Zealand has launched a borrowing bid in the Euronote market, the Citicorp Investment Bank said in London. The SUSIOOM. (SNZ2OOM) deal is the first European securities transaction of its kind by the airline, a bank spokesman said. On current rates the borrower would be able to Obtain funds at under 8 per cent. Trade in Euronotes has increased over the last two years since the New Zealand Government issued a $1.5 billion facility in 1984. Fletcher-Challenge also arranged European borrowing last year. Money supply The supply of money, often seen as a key element of future inflation, rose sharply in the United States and Britain but only moderately in Japan and West Germany in the third quarter of last year, the International Monetary Fund reported on Monday. But for the

present, the IMF said in an 11nation study, inflation as measured by the rise in consumer prices was continuing the slowdown of recent years — at least in those countries. Hong Kong Industrial Equity sold at 3200 c on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday. Impala Pacific was sold at 1410 c. Prospecting licence New Zealand Oil and Gas, Ltd, and Oil Fields NL have farmed out petroleum prospecting licence PPL 38087, in the North Taranaki Bight, to Amoco New Zealand Exploration Company. Under the terms of the agreement, which is subject to approval from the Minister of Energy, Amoco will pay for a 650 km seismic survey costing more than SIM. The survey is being made now by the seismic vessel Grant Mariner. In return, Amoco obtained the right to earn a 62.5 per cent share in the licence by drilling a wild-cat exploration well in the area this year.

Amoco will have the opportunity to increase such interest to 80 per cent, by drilling a second wild-cat well. Murchison drilling The Murchison area will be re-assessed by Petrocorp New Zealand, Ltd, in light of its drilling at Matiri 1. The Matiri 1 well is being plugged and abandoned after testing by Petrocorp failed to find economic hydrocarbon deposits. A company spokesman, Mr Peter Andrews, said that Petrocorp would now look at the results of its drilling at Matiri 1 and, in light of what it knew about the wider Murchison area, would make a decision about possible future drilling there. Hauraki Hauraki Enterprises, Ltd, has increased its shareholding in Radio i Holdings, Ltd, from 24.9 per cent to 61.2 per cent. Hauraki Enterprises has undertaken to the Broadcasting Tribunal that it will apply to convert its current AM warrant to an FM warrant.