12/08/04, NEW DELHI (Dow Jones)--India Finance Ministry is likely to cutimport duties on nine commodities to stem a rise in inflation, theBusiness Standard reports, quoting unnamed sources.

The commodities include steel, crude oil, iron ore, sugar and edible oils,whose recent price flare-ups caused inflation to rise to athree-and-half-year high of 7.51% in the week ended July 24.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has indicated over the last few days thatthe government is considering measures to rein in inflation within a5%-5.5% target range.

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