A report prepared by the Agricultural Research Center announced an annual fall in productivity of fruits and vegetables by 70 percent, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, on the back of climate change and increased temperatures. An example, the report provided, showed that the tomato crop fell from 40 tons per acre in 2009 to 15 tons …

Egypt will not change terms for a new contract for Talaat Moustafa’s flagship Madinaty project and will take 7 percent of the project’s completed housing units, as in the original deal, a newspaper reported. "There will be no change in the contract terms, the state will get a 7 percent compensation for (areas) built-up on," …

Egypt’s prime minister said on Thursday that gross domestic product in the July to September quarter was expected to grow by an annualized 6 percent, up from 5.9 percent in the previous quarter. Speaking to reporters, Ahmed Nazif said growth in the first quarter of the financial year that began on July 1 would reach …

DUBAI: Dubai state-owned property developer Nakheel expects to complete its debt restructuring by the end of the year. "We have had a successful bank meeting and we are having very good discussions with the Nakheel co-com (core committee)," chief executive Chris O’Donnell told reporters on Thursday. Conglomerate Dubai World has near-unanimous approval for its $24.9 …

MUSCAT: Oman plans to stick to its spending plan this year and the budget deficit is likely to be smaller as oil prices seem to stay higher than estimated, the Gulf country’s finance ministry official said on Sunday. The small non-OPEC crude producer largely overshot its original expenditure plans in the past two years to …

Egyptian builder and fertilizer maker Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) said on Monday it approved the issue of LE 1.65 billion ($289 million) of bonds for purposes including possible acquisitions. Ninety percent of the issue, which carries an 11.75 percent semi-annual coupon, will be offered via a private placement and the rest to the public. "I …

A group of leading Saudi importers has purchased 360,000 tons of optional origin barley for Oct. shipment and another 265,000 tons of Ukrainian origin for Sept. shipment, trade sources said on Friday. They said 360,000 tons of optional origin barley were purchased in the last few days by several private Saudi buyers from international suppliers …

GB Auto, Egypt’s biggest listed automobile assembler, will pay a LE 3.09 ($0.54) dividend on Oct. 3, it announced in a newspaper advertisement on Wednesday. The dividend will be paid to investors owning shares as of Sept. 30. The company’s second-quarter net profit surged 92 percent from a year earlier, bolstered mainly by an extended …

The Saipa Automotive Manufacturing Group has signed a deal to set up a factory in Sudan to produce 35,000 cars over the next five years, the Iranian news agency Mehr is reporting. The new plant in Sudan will produce a variety of car models. “Saipa’s successful presence in the Sudanese market in the past persuaded …

WASHINGTON: The Muslim cleric behind plans to build an Islamic Cultural Center and mosque near Ground Zero in New York warned on Sunday that retreating on the project would only strengthen the hand of the Muslim extremists. But Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf did not rule out that developers would move the Islamic center, telling ABC: …

Circle Oil Plc, an oil and gas exploration, development and production company, said in a note that its strategy is to locate and secure additional licenses in prospective hydrocarbon provinces and through targeted investment programs, monetize the value in those assets for the benefit of shareholders. Circle may use its own expertise to appraise reserves …

Miner Centamin Egypt said it cut its gold output guidance for 2010 by 15-20 percent due to a number of production problems at its Sukari operation, pulling its shares down 12 percent. The company expects to produce 160-170,000 ounces of gold, revised down from the original target of 200,000 ounces. The London-listed shares fell 12 …

HONG KONG: Asian banks’ shares rallied on Monday as regulators and investors shrugged off the biggest revamp to global banking rules in decades, confident that regional lenders were already in good shape. The stricter new rules — known as Basel III — were agreed on Sunday at a meeting in Switzerland of international central bankers …

Egypt’s Orascom Development will build two Four Seasons-branded hotels, one in an Egyptian resort and the other in Oman, by second-half 2011 for a total investment of $245 million, a newspaper said on Wednesday. One hotel will be in the Red Sea resort of El-Gouna, with a capacity of 150 rooms and 60 villas. It …

DUBAI: Dubai Metro may have altered the commuting scene in this car-loving city, but a year after the first train left the station winning over the hard-core motorists remains an uphill struggle. Despite Dubai’s severe financial crisis however, the rail authority is determined to complete its second line, delayed for more than a year. Since …

Regional low-cost carrier Air Arabia will start direct services to the Egyptian city of Alexandria from the airline’s second hub in Mohamed V Airport, Casablanca, Morocco. Egypt represents the 12th destination on Air Arabia’s growing network from Morocco. The airline will start its flights to Alexandria on October 4, according to a press statement. The …

Egypt plans to spend an initial LE 60 billion ($10.5 billion) to upgrade the country’s irrigation network, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing the agriculture minister. Countries along the Nile will need more water as their populations grow, a development which could affect Egypt’s share of the river’s flow, Al-Mal quoted the minister, Amin Abaza, …

DUBAI: Dubai Holding’s main unit will delay repayment on a $555 million loan until Nov. 30, the company said on Tuesday, the second time it has failed to meet a repayment deadline. DHCOG, a unit of the conglomerate owned by the Gulf Arab emirate’s ruler, took a big hit on its exposure to Dubai’s property …

Kuwaiti exports to Egypt stand at $46.2 million annually, most of which are oil derivatives, said the head of the Egyptian trade representation office on Monday. The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Kuwait is increasing nearly 15.9 percent each year, Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Alim said. According to statistics, the two-way trade between the two countries …

KHOBAR: A new chief executive officer has been named for a venture between state oil giant Saudi Aramco and France’s Total, industry sources said on Monday. Said al-Hadrami, a board member of Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP) replaces Salem Shaheen as president and chief executive of SATORP, sources said. A company spokesperson …

TEHRANL: A Bahai missionary has been arrested in northern Iran for indulging in "illicit relationships," hardline newspaper Javan’s website reported on Monday. It identified the detainee by only his initials, P.P., saying he was arrested in the Islamic republic’s northern province of Golestan. The newspaper which is close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards did not provide …

ABU DHABI: Regulations enforcing higher capital standards in the UAE’s overcrowded insurance market have reduced the amount of insurance brokers, while slower growth in commercial business means the sector is looking to opportunities in the retail segment. “The number of brokers has decreased by 20 percent compared with 2008,” the Insurance Authority said recently. Put …

HSBC upgraded Olympic Group to "overweight" from "neutral," citing an attractive valuation, and said the Egyptian appliance maker’s capacity expansion plans are on track. Capacity expansions related to Olympic’s agreement with Sweden’s Electrolux and potential original equipment manufacturers’ sales are progressing as planned, HSBC said. Olympic Group, which specializes in making automatic washing machines, refrigerators, …

State-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC) sold 350,000 tons of naphtha for September-December loading from Suez, with JPMorgan sweeping up 60 percent of the volumes, traders said on Thursday. JPMorgan will be lifting six cargoes, each at 35,000 tons, at premiums of $2.00-$5.00 a ton to Middle East quotes, on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. Glencore …

Egypt’s producer price index rose 10.36 percent in the 12 months to July, figures on the website of the state statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Friday. The government started the new index in October 2007, replacing the old wholesale price index. The July figure is preliminary.    

Egypt’s ASEC Company for Mining (ASCOM) said on Sunday it had found two gold mining targets in an Ethiopian concession with enough tonnage and grade potential to suggest an economic discovery is possible. ASCOM plans to start drilling on the 800-square-kilometer Asosa concession in Western Ethiopia in October, it said in a statement. The company, …

CAIRO: The average yield on Egyptian 364-day treasury bills rose slightly to 10.503 percent at an auction on Thursday from 10.380 percent at the last auction on Aug. 5. The central bank said it accepted bids for bills worth LE 3 billion Egyptian ($526 million), the same amount it was seeking. It accepted bids at …

The Obama administration’s success in moving the Israeli-Palestinian talks from proximity to direct negotiations is an important achievement for making real progress. However, direct talks will not produce substantive results unless the United States takes a number of pivotal steps to insure that the progress made in the negotiations is irreversible, and will eventually lead …

Cairo-based investment bank Beltone Financial will put LE 5 million ($880,000) into a new open-ended equity fund that will make investments relying only on technical analysis, Bloomberg reported. With LE 24.5 billion in assets under management, Beltone will issue shares in the fund Aug. 29 through government-owned Banque Misr, according to the fund’s prospectus. The …

Egypt’s Ezz Steel said on Thursday its second-quarter net profit more than tripled and forecast that growing global demand for steel would push prices higher in the second half of 2010. Egypt’s largest steel producer said net profit was LE 136 million ($23.8 million), compared with LE 37 million in the same quarter last year, …