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Fearless forecast: Check out the possible losers among Singapore's agri players

Noble's earnings to continually slide.

According to Nomura, they expect this quarter to be in line with last quarter for the commodity traders; with Wilmar likely to see recovery from a low base of 2QCY12, and Noble likely to continue to see earnings drop y-y. 

They still expect agri trading margins to remain weak.

Here's more from Nomura: 

For Wilmar, we expect a decline in palm refining margins as high Indonesian margins normalize. Also, we don't expect any significant recovery in crush margins.

Refining volumes should increase, in our view, as the new capacity in Indonesia should contribute. We believe the key will be plantation margins, as average CPO prices in 2Q were much lower than those last year. We believe sugar should continue to be loss making in 1HCY13. 

For Olam, volume should continue to jump, in our view, led by food staples (grain trading). We do expect an increase in Food Staples margins from a low base seen in 2QCY12. 

For Noble, we expect earnings to decline significantly as agri margins should be much lower y-y. Energy margins could also moderate q-q, in our view. 

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