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A stronger overseas market for wheat and a slightly weaker Australian dollar will boost financial returns for Australian farmers, says wheat marketer AWB.

AWB said on Tuesday that estimated returns for most grades of wheat in the 2010/11 season were expected to be higher.

AWB’s general manager of commodities, Mitch Morison, said wheat stocks were relatively tight amid increased international demand.

“The market was subdued through the Christmas period, but we are definitely seeing more buying activity now for grain from the European Union and the United States,” Mr Morison said in a statement.

“It is many months yet until the next northern hemisphere harvest, and buyers are aware that world stocks are tight, particularly for good quality milling grain, so they must secure supplies or cope with the potential for even higher prices.”

Mr Morison said Australian feed wheat was continuing to displace corn into Asian feed markets.

“Without question, buyers are keen to secure supply from Australia and our pools are gaining benefit from these opportunities,” Mr Morison said. Full Post…

COASTAL BEND — Texas Commission on Environmental Quality commissioners approved these fines on Wednesday:

- Citgo Refining and Chemicals Co.

$8,000, air violation, investigated May 5, for failure to prevent the unauthorized release of almost 15,000 pounds of volatile organic compound emissions when tank 1016 over-filled due to a faulty gauge level reading.

Corrective action: The respondent corrected the reference tank height and stamped metal tags indicating the tank number and reference height were installed at each tank gauge hatch.

- Yeung Realty, Inc. d

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— Customers of the H-E-B on Kostoryz Road are getting new store, nearly double the size of the existing 43,000 square-foot one.

The new 75,000-square-foot store is under construction on a lot adjacent to the one at 4444 Kostoryz Road near Gollihar Road.

The San Antonio-based grocery company will have a ground-breaking ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Monday next to the construction site. Mayor Joe Adame, City Councilman John Marez and H-E-B officials are expected to attend.

The new H-E-B represents an investment of more than $2 million, H-E-B spokeswoman Shelley Parks said.

“This store will be different, unlike any of the other stores we operate,” Parks said. “

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HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- Tycoon Li Ka-shing’s charitable foundation is set to become the second-biggest shareholder of China Timber Resources Group Ltd. (0269.HK) after the fund and several investors entered into deals to buy shares in the Hong Kong-listed company to help fund its plan to buy toll-road assets in Inner Mongolia.

China Timber said in a statement Friday that Li Ka Shing Foundation Ltd. agreed to buy 3.0 billion new shares in the company at HK$0.40 each, valuing the investment at HK$1.2 billion. The foundation will own a 12.85% stake in China Timber after the company completes its share placements.

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BOSTON – Massachusetts foreclosures last year rose by 32 percent compared with 2009, The Warren Group said Wednesday.

The real estate tracking firm said lenders completed 12,233 foreclosures last year, up from 9,269 the year before.

In Bristol County, Mass., foreclosures totaled 1,280 in 2010, marking a 45 percent increase from the 884 foreclosures completed the year before.

Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren Jr. attributed the increases to Bay State lenders spending 2010 working through a backlog of foreclosures started in previous years. T

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