RI riot affects grain market

RI riot affects grain market

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Asia's already gloomy grains market is expected to see even fewer activities in the wake of the riots in Indonesia, traders said yesterday.

"The regional market is turning very bearish again," said one trader with a U.S. commodity house in Singapore.

Dealers had hoped that approval this week of payment of US$1 billion by the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) to Jakarta would have buoyed the grains market.

Indonesia is a big buyer of grain on world markets and the IMF payment, agreed on Monday, should put some more cash in the pockets of Indonesian buyers.

But the riots have canceled out most of the positive impact of IMF money by depressing the rupiah and raising the specter of further social unrest elsewhere in Indonesia.