Japanese crushers have so far bought 50,000 tonnes of Canadian rapeseed for shipment in late July/August and total purchases for the period are likely to be around 130,000 tonnes, trade sources said. Crushers reduced their Canadian purchases for late June and July to 111,000 from 120,000 tonnes due to seasonal maintenance work at oil mills. But estimated crushers’ buying for July/August was slightly above monthly average and is likely to keep to this level for a while due to a better crushing margin compared with that of soybeans, they said.

Pasco Corp is issuing an 85 mln dlr equity warrant eurobond due July 9, 1992 with an indicated coupon of 1-5/8 pct and par pricing, lead manager Nomura International Ltd said. The issue is guaranteed by Mitsubishi Bank Ltd and final terms will be set on June 23. The selling concession is 1-1/2 pct while management and underwriting combined pay 3/4 pct. The issue is available in denominations of 5,000 dlrs and will be listed in Luxembourg.

Ecuador is accepting bids from companies wishing to explore for crude oil in a 1.2-million-hectare area in the southeast of the country, a spokesman for the Ecuadorian State Oil Company (CEPE) said. The spokesman said companies have until October 15 to present their bids and until the middle of next year to sign contracts. Competitors may bid for six alternative 200,000-hectare areas, in the southeast forest bordering Peru and in the western coastal plain around the Pacific.

Japan is faced with a mounting crisis over its huge trade surplus and recognizes that it must act more quickly to refocus its export driven economy, a senior Foreign Ministry official said. “The sense of crisis among the Japanese public as well as the government is increasing,” Deputy Director General Hiroshi Hirabayashi told reporters. “The need to accelerate the efforts (to restructure the economy) is well recognized.” Hirabayashi said that gradual progress had been made to refocus the Japanese economy, but admitted that it might not seem all that spectacular to foreign observers.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that comments made in congressional testimony by Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter do not reflect the government’s position. Yeutter was questioned about the dollar during testimony to the Senate Finance Committee. Fitzwater said in a statement Yeutter’s comments were in response to a hypothetical question “and do not reflect the government’s position.” “I want to emphasize that only the president and the secretray of the treasury are authorized to comment on the dollar,” the spokesman said.

The Bank of Spain announced a one-point rise in overnight call money rates to 16-5/8 pct, which a central bank spokesman said was part of government efforts to control money supply growth. The increase came after yesterday’s one-point rise and pushed interbank rates to 19 19-1/2 pct from 18-1/8 19 pct. The M-4 money supply, liquid assets in public hands, the broadest measure of money supply, rose 14.1 pct in the first three months compared with this year’s eight pct target.

An amendment approved by the House Agriculture Committee yesterday requiring quotas on U.S. imports of products containing sugar is unlikely to remain in a comprehensive trade bill, Congressional sources said. The amendment, offered by Rep. Arlan Stangeland, R-Minn., would require quotas on the import of any merchandise containing over 25 pct sugar or other farm products which are now subject to U.S. quotas. Supporters of the amendment said it is aimed at curbing shipments of food products containing sugar from Canada.

Kenya’s coffee and tea growing areas remained generally dry for the second consecutive week, in the period to April 28, weather and farming sources said. All areas east and west of the Rift Valley recorded below 25 mm of rain with western Kericho town having only 21 mm, they said. Kericho, which last year received 387 mm in April last year, has so far recorded only 176 mm and little rain is forecast throughout the country in the next two days.

South Korean prosecutors formally charged the chief executive of Pan Ocean Shipping Company, the country’s largest shipping firm, with alleged financial offences. A statement from the prosecutors’ office said charges of illegal capital movement, violation of foreign exchange laws and tax evasion were laid against Hahn Sang-yon, president of the hugely indebted company whose chairman, Park Ken-sek, fell to his death a week ago. Prosecutors said that over the past six years Hahn and Park illegally sent abroad more than 15 mln dlrs.

Treasury Secretary James Baker said the Group of Seven leading industrial nations is fully committed to halting a further decline in the dollar. “Let me emphasize that all seven major industrial nations remain fully committed to strengthening policy coordination, promoting growth and cooperating to foster stability of exchange rates,” he told the American Enterprise Institute. “We all believe a further decline of the dollar could be counter productive to our efforts (to promote growth),” he said.