To download the full report (PDF document) please click here COLUMN: Time for the corn, soy & wheat annual check-up: Maguire --Gavin Maguire is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own. To get his real-time views on the market, please join the Global Ags Forum. --
CHICAGO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Open wide. Cough. Bend over. You might feel a little pressure here
The heavy exertions of 2011 - which saw corn scale all-time price highs in the opening half of the year before deteriorating steadily over the latter months - has left the major grain and oilseed markets road weary as 2012 gets underway. Each has very different drivers over the immediate term, but history has shown repeatedly that the health of one market can quickly and dramatically impact the wellbeing of any other, and so a thorough physical exam of each makes sense as we get the New Year underway. ENERGY: Brent oil falls near $113 as euro zone jitters overshadow Iran
SINGAPORE, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Brent crude fell near $113 a barrel as renewed jitters over the euro zone crisis overshadowed fears of Iranian supply disruption after the European Union agreed to cut off oil imports from the No. 2 OPEC producer.
"I don't think there's any light at the end of the tunnel yet," Ryoma Furumi, a commodity sales manager at Newedge Japan, adding that the euro zone crisis could drag on for another year.
CNPC says foreign equity oil output tops 1 mln bpd
BEIJING, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Equity oil output from overseas projects run by China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) topped a record 1 million barrels per day last year, in line with targets, the top Chinese oil and gas producer reported.
The report by the China Petroleum Daily, a company newspaper, did not give more details of overseas production.
BP fund resumes payments to spill victims after clarification
Jan 4 (Reuters) - BP's $20 billion oil spill fund said it had resumed payments to eligible victims on Wednesday after receiving clarification from a U.S. district court regarding an escrow account set up to cover certain legal expenses incurred by the plaintiffs' lawyers.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana had earlier asked the fund called the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) to pay into a court supervised escrow account 6 percent of the gross settlement amount. The money from the escrow account would be used to meet certain legal expenses incurred by the plaintiffs' lawyers.
Qatar keeps Feb crude supply to Asia steady -source
TOKYO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Qatar, one of OPEC's smallest producers, has notified at least one Asian buyer that it will supply Marine and Land crude at full contracted volumes for February, unchanged from January levels, a trade source said on Thursday.
Qatar gave buyers the option of asking for cargoes to be 5 percent more or less than contracted volumes, the same as the previous month, the source added.
Chavez says Exxon should pay Venezuela damages
CARACAS, Jan 4 (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday scoffed at an arbitration ruling ordering Venezuela to compensate Exxon Mobil for nationalizing its assets, and said the U.S. oil giant should pay the OPEC nation for "robbing" the country.
An arbitration panel of the International Chamber of Commerce awarded Exxon $908 million for claims linked to the 2007 takeover of the Cerro Negro heavy oil project following years of legal wrangling with the socialist government.
Suncor, others lift veil on pipeline support
CALGARY, Alberta, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A quintet of Canada's largest oil sands producers has contributed money and signed shipping deals in support of Enbridge Inc's Northern Gateway pipeline to the Pacific Coast, according to documents filed days before hearings into the contentious proposal are due to start.
Suncor Energy Inc , Cenovus Energy Inc , Nexen Inc , Total SA and MEG Energy Corp came forward on Wednesday for the first time with their interests in the C$5.5 billion ($5.42 billion) project in National Energy Board filings.
Ecuador plaintiffs to seek Chevron damages abroad
QUITO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean plaintiffs who won an $18 billion environmental case against Chevron Corp will pursue legal action against the company overseas in a bid to collect the damages, their lawyer said on Wednesday.
An appeals court in the OPEC nation upheld a ruling on Tuesday that the U.S. oil giant should pay up, after a local judge found it guilty last February of polluting the Amazon jungle and damaging the plaintiffs' health.
ZeaChem sees cellulosic ethanol starting to flow
Jan 4 (Reuters) - It's been a "bumpy ride" for efforts to develop cellulosic ethanol as a viable alternative to corn ethanol, but several projects are moving forward and the biofuel should be flowing later this year and next, a leading industry executive said.
ZeaChem Inc CEO Jim Imbler said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that investor skepticism and technology complexities are among many factors keeping the cellulosic side of the U.S. biofuels business from taking off.
AGRICULTURE: Wheat falls for 2nd day on risk aversion; soy steady
SINGAPORE, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat slid for a second straight session weighed down by Europe's debt woes and the improved condition of the U.S. winter crop.
"It is Argentine weather playing out and this could remain as the main fundamental factor for price direction," said Lynette Tan, analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore. "We are more bearish on wheat because of the poor fundamentals."
Indonesia targets zero rice imports in 2012 -Bulog
JAKARTA, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Indonesia will not import rice in 2012 and instead maintain high stock levels by buying 4 million tonnes of the staple grain from domestic sellers, state procurement agency Bulog said.
Southeast Asia's biggest economy and the world's third-largest rice grower, issued permits to import 1.9 million tonnes of rice last year, from Vietnam, Thailand and India.
Vietnam sees coffee, rice exports down in 2012, oil up -report
HANOI, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Vietnam plans to export 1.2 million tonnes, or 20 million bags, of coffee this year, down 4 percent from the amount shipped in 2011 but above a previous forecast of 1.1 million tonnes, a state-run newspaper reported on Thursday.
Annual rice exports were seen reaching 7 million tonnes this year, after Vietnam exported a record 7.1 million tonnes in 2011, according to the Cong Thuong (Industry and Trade) newspaper which cited annual targets from the Industry and Trade Ministry.
Morocco grain strong despite planting delay-attache
Jan 4 - Following are selected highlights from a report issued by a U.S. Department of Agriculture attache in Morocco:
"The 2011/12 grain planting season in Morocco had a late start, with the first significant rainfalls arriving the week of October 24. Despite the delay of planting, agricultural experts remain hopeful for a good grain harvest. The official estimates for the 2010/2011 grain production were revised slightly down, with soft wheat production at 4.17 million tonnes, durum wheat at 1.85 million tonnes and barley at 2.34 million tonnes.
Ghana cocoa purchases up
ACCRA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Ghana's official cocoa purchases are running 9 percent over last year, according to figures from state regulator Cocobod, but recent transport delays have triggered congestion at the West African nation's warehouses.
Purchases reached 518,531 tonnes by Dec. 22 since the start of the season on Oct. 14 in the world's No. 2 grower, according to Cocobod data seen by Reuters on Wednesday, with some 37,019 tonnes registered in the most recent week.
China, demand, macro issues to drive cotton market
ORLANDO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - - China's cotton imports, world consumption and the gyrations of the global economy will be the prime factors driving cotton market prices in 2012, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Mike Quinn, the president and chief executive of the Carolinas Cotton Growers Cooperative, said at the annual Beltwide Cotton conference a number of factors will influence price direction in cotton futures on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange.
Cameroon cocoa exports reach 106,347 T by end-Nov
YAOUNDE, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Cameroon exported 41,410 tonnes of cocoa beans in the month of November 2011, bringing the total for the season so far to 106,347 tonnes, according to statistics from the National Cocoa and Coffee Board (NCCB) released on Wednesday.
That is a slight drop from 109,045 tonnes exported by the same time last season.
BASE METALS: London copper inches up as euro zone adds caution to market
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 (Reuters) - London copper inched up after its biggest decline in two weeks though worries over the euro zone's funding ability limited gains in early Asian trading.
The most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost 0.48 percent to 55,520 yuan ($8,800) a tonne.
Lynas awaits Malaysia OK for rare earths plant
SYDNEY, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Australia's Lynas Corp said on Thursday it was awaiting a Jan 30 decision by the Malaysian Atomic Energy Licensing Board over an application to begin commissioning a rare earths processing plant targeted by environmental protesters in Malaysia.
Lynas is one of a handful of rare earths companies looking to break China's grip on the global supply of rare earths, a range of 17 elements used to make high-tech electronics, magnets and batteries.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold steady; eyes Iran, French bond sales
SINGAPORE, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Gold traded steady, near a 2-1/2-week high hit in the previous session, as investors awaited a French bond auction later in the day to gauge the scope of the euro zone debt crisis and watched developments on Iran.
"If we don't have any shock out of Iran or any surprise on data, gold is likely to stay in consolidation with a near-term bottom at $1,550," said Hou Xinqiang, an analyst at Jinrui Futures in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. GLOBAL MARKETS: Shares, euro dip; French bond auction eyed
TOKYO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Asian shares and the euro eased as concerns about the ability of euro zone countries to refinance their huge public debt dampened investor risk appetite ahead of a French bond auction later in the day.
"Euro zone debt worries persist and the euro is basically on a declining trend, while undergoing short-term swings depending on the degree of risks," said Tomoko Fujii, FX strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Tokyo.
CHART OF THE DAY: SHANGHAI COPPER - 24 HRS TECHNICAL OUTLOOK 
BEYOND THE HEADLINES: EU agrees embargo on Iranian crude
BRUSSELS/TEHRAN, Jan 4 (Reuters) - European governments have agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian oil, EU diplomats said on Wednesday, dealing a blow to Tehran that crowns new Western sanctions months before an Iranian election.
The prospective embargo by the European Union, along with tough U.S. financial measures signed into law by President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve, form a concerted Western campaign to hold back Iran's nuclear programme.
La Nina, low stocks trigger corn, soy volatility
OXFORD, England, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Global corn and soybean stocks remain low, leaving both commodities vulnerable to the threat posed by the La Nina weather phenomenon to production in Argentina and southern Brazil, U.S. Department of Agriculture chief economist Joseph Glauber said on Wednesday.
"Stocks levels for both those commodities are still quite low. There is a lot of volatility because of that and I think that the markets are reflecting that uncertainty right now," he told Reuters in an interview.
Monsanto sees drop in 2012 US cotton planting
ORLANDO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - - American cotton plantings in 2012 are seen falling 15 percent to around 12.5 million acres although the final figure will depend a great deal on prices of cotton and rival grains, as well as the vagaries of weather, a top official of lifesciences firm Monsanto said.
"Cotton acres are going to be down," David Rhylander, the marketing lead for Monsanto's wholly owned cotton seed firm Deltapine, told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday at the start of the annual Beltwide cotton conference here.
Malaysia's December palm oil stocks seen at 5-month low
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Malaysia's palm oil stocks likely fell to a five-month low in December as a fall in production outpaced a drop in exports, a Reuters survey of seven plantation firms showed on Wednesday.
Stocks in the world's No.2 producer of the tropical oil probably dropped 5.7 percent to 1.95 million tonnes from 2.01 million tonnes in November as heavy rains disrupted harvests in parts of Malaysia.
India's 2011/12 edible oil imports seen up 6.3 pct
MUMBAI, Jan 4 (Reuters) - India's edible oil imports in the year ending October 2012 are likely to rise by 6.3 percent to 8.9 million tonnes and all the additional imports will be refined palm oil after Indonesia changed export taxes, a senior Indian industry official said.
Indonesia altered duties to make its refined palm oils more attractive than crude palm oil (CPO) from October 2011, prompting warnings from refiners in India, the world's top cooking oil buyer, it would be a "death blow."
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