Dear friends,

As Myanmar struggled to recover from a Cyclone that killed about 100,000 people, and many were missing, The Israeli coop movement in Israel and NISPED are organizing together with IsraAid a relief mission.We began our preparations after Mynamar Officials said they would open the doors of their closed and tightly controlled nation to international relief groups.

If those numbers are accurate, the death toll would be the highest from a natural disaster in Asia since the tsunami of December 2004, which devastated coastlines in South Asia and claimed 181,000 lives. Tens of thousands of people were homeless after the cyclone, and food and water were running short. From reports we received from our team there are No drinking water in many areas, still no power. Houses completely disappeared. Refugees scavenging for food in poorer areas. Roofing, building supplies, tools — all are scarce.

India, a major importer of pulses, is facing delay in shipments of urad and tur owing to the cyclone in Myanmar, a major exporting nation. "The cyclone would lead to a one-month delay in the shipment of urad and tur.

For controlling the rising prices of edible oil through better supply, the state owned State Trading Corporation on Wednesday invited bids for import of 24,000 tonne of palm oil to be delivered during May & June.

Onion export is likely to increase by about 12% in first month of the current fiscal, helped by lower minimum export price of the edible bulb.