LONDON. Oct 9: Aluminium soared during the week, rising to its highest level for almost four years as the metal appeared. almost dally, to show improved prospects, reports AFP

Demand, which is already strong in Europe, continued to swell in the United States IUF). while a series of roofing strikes" at the Tomango Aluminium Smelter in Australia also boosted prices.

Copper was also higher during the week, lifting on strong • >S demand and news that a strike at southern Peru had it production.

At the end of a quiet week, pet-ol prices Jumped higher to •>ove 17 dollars a barrel on F-'day morning as rumours of Iraqi troop movements near the Kuwaiti border hit the market.

Rubber continued to sail higher on Japanese speculative buying. Coffee, cocoa and the vegetable oils declined, while sugar and grains were firm.

The precious metals slipped slightly after their high levels the previous week.

GOLD: Weaker. Gold dropped to around 392 dollars per ounce on Thursday as dealers were disappointed the metal had failed to break through the 400 dollars per ounce mark on speculation last week.

However, the falls on several European stock exchanges — worried by the prospect of US interest rate rises, — failed to stimulate gold, which generally declined on the financial markets.

One analyst said It was hardly surprising the meta) failed to reach 400 dollars an ounce as Asian jewellers, who constitute one of the world's

largest markets, are particularly sensitive to price rises and stop buying if the metal becomes too expensive.

SILVER: Declining. Silver slumped 10 cents lower on Monday to 5.52 dollars per ounce, after large-scale selling on Asian markets.

Silver also dipped in the wake of gold, but then lifted later In the week to around 5.6 dollars per ounce.

PLATINUM: Firm. After a slight fall at the beginning of the week, platinum regained its recent high levels at around 420 dollars per tonne, rising 'on the strength of the yen against the dollar, dealers said.

The Japanese market, a large purchase/ of platinum, took advantage of the greenbacks weakness to effect large-scale purchases of the metal, which is traded in dollars.

COPPER: Higher. Copper rose around 50 dollars during the week to close at 2.536 doi lars per tonne on strong US demand and news that a strike at southern Peru had cut production.

A US official said demand for copper, which crew nine per cent during the first three quarters of 1994, is very strong and is likely to continue into the next year.

Elsewhere, Southern Peru Corp's ILO Copper Smelter has been operating at 30 to 40 per cent of capacity due to strike action over collective bargaining agreements, which entered its fifth day on Friday

Southern Peru, majority owned by the US-based Asarco Inc. is Peru's largest copper producer and generates about 15 per cent of Peru's export earnings.

Mining sources said however. that the company's refin-

ery in JLO and its two mines. Toquepala and Cuajone. were operating normally and that one: third of workers at the Smelter had ignored the strike call.

LEAD: Lifting. Lead rose a muted 10 dollars to 645 dol-' lars per tonne during the week as the metal generally followed the complex higher. It was basically ignored by dealers as strikers in Peru and Australia absorbed their interest.

Stocks on the LME dipped 3.025 tonnes to 368,750.

ZINC: Rising. Zinc lifted around 40 dollars during the week to 1,071 dollars per tonne — a closing high since May 1993.

The metal reacted little to "news that the strike at Peruvian producer Centromin had ended after only a week and that production would be-•gin again soon.

The mine turned out 138.450 tonnes of zinc in the first half of this year.

Stocks on the LME dipped 3,700 tonnes to 1.237.250.

ALUMINIUM: Soaring. The metal soared 29 dollars during the week to 1,647 dollars per tonne — its highest closing point since November 1990. after rising on encouraging prospects and strike action.

On Thursday, the owners of the Tomango Aluminium Smelter in Australia declared force. Majeure (suspended) an unspecified number of October export shipments after a series of rolling strikes hit the 346.000-tonne Smelter.

Labour unions have authorized a series of brief work stoppages, or "rolling strikes." as they attempt to win wage concessions from Tomago's management In the dispute

over wages.

A 24-day strike at the plant in August led management to threaten to close it.

Weekly stocks on the LME fell a massive 46.300 tonnes to 2,27.800.

NICKEL: Jumps. Nickel . jumped 240 dollars during the week to 6.710 dollars per tonne on the back of aluminium and on encouraging prospects for the metal.

Dealers at GNI predicted the nickel market will experience a deficit of 19.900 tonnes this year, rising to 35.000 tonnes in 1995.

"While these figures are bullish, they will still leave LME stocks at a massive 100.000 tonnes at the end of 1995. which will certainly be enough to absorb the 1996 deficit and probably 1997's as well." GNI added.

Nickel is used mostly in steel production and Is the first of the base metals to benefit from the early stages of world economic recovery. It is therefore used as an indicator of economic growth patterns.

Demand in the US steelframed housing market is thought to have grown from 1.000 tones in 1991 to 190.000 tonnes in 1993, with 500.000 tonnes predicted for 1994, the USX-US Steel Group said.

Nickel stocks rose 1.920 tonnes to a record 146,352 tonnes.

TIN: Higher. Tin rose steadily during the week in the wake of the rest of the complex. lifting 85 dollars to around 5,485 dollars per tonne.

Weekly stocks on the LME were down 45 tonnes to 32.185.

COCOA: Slump, ^ocoa slumped during veek to 979 rounds r'-r .onne — its lowest level for tnree months - on lack of demand by chocolate producers and speculators.

Dealers said the market was suffering from a lack of news and was stalled ahead of the arrival of the first deliveries of the Ivory Coast harvest in the ports. Orie London dealer said a small quantity had already arrived, but that it was not enough to move the market.

The economist intelligence unit said prices would rise steadily In the last quarter of 1994. despite stagnant consumption levels and a lower than expected deficit in the market.

COFFEE: Ebbing. Light rain on coffee plantations in Brazil, the first for some months, caused prices to drop to around 3.800 dollars per tonne, the lowest level since the end of August.

. The rains in Brazil were light and somewhat irregular. 'The market believes that rain is likely, and the (much-needed) flowering of the coffee plants will carry on as normal." said one dealer. ■

Without large-scale rainfall, few flowers (which subsequently from the coffee buds) will appear and the 1995-1996 harvest (May to April) will be weaker than usual. The market was particularly nervous as the flowering season ends this month:

SUGAR: Firm. The price of white sugar remained firm at a high level, fluctuating between 328 and 330 dollars per tonne on speculation in the US market.

Specialists said the high level of prices was discouraging Chinese imports, while

buying for the rest of the year is expected to remain sporadic.

VEGETABLE OILS: Decline. The price of vegetable oils on the Rotterdam market fell during the week, particularly soya oil which was suffering from a large US harvest.

Likewise, palm oil dipped from its high levels peached recently. The review oil world also predicted a drop in Chinese buying, normally large scale, after November, as stocks appeared plentiful.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (ETU) had previously predicted that the price of vegetable oils would fair in autumn when harvests from the northern hemisphere ’arrive on the market and the production of palm oil increases In Malaysia and Indonesia.

OIL: Stable. After slipping briefly above 17 dollars a barrel at the beginning of the week, the price of brent crude North Sea oil then fell to a round 16.8 dollars a barrel, but lifted again later.

A strike by workers at state-owned Brazilian company Petrobas. which ended on Thursday, had little influence on prices as Brazilian petrol production Is negligible when compared to world supplies.

A rise in US petrol and crude stocks caused prices to dip slightly midweek, but they then rose on Friday on rumours that Iraqi troops were heading towards the Kuwaiti border.

Elsewhere, Iran completed the reconstruction of the Kharg Terminal, which was damaged by the" Iraq-Iran war. It has the capacity to process around seven million barrels a day.

Experts believed, however, the country would find it difficult to exceed its OPEC pro duction quota of 3.6 million barrels a day as it suffers from a lack of skilled personnel, in-vestmenj and spare parts.

RUBBER: Higher. Prices rose to around 940 pounds per tonne on speculative buying by the Japanese, and dealers indicated prices were likely to remain firm in the coming weeks.

The economist intelligence unit estimated, however, that prices will remain strong "for months’" although they will eventually dip as the production deficit is compensated for by an increase in synthetic rubber.

GRAINS: Irregular. The pt ice of wheat rose to 105 pounds per tonne during the week, reacting to a slightly weaker pound and delays In delivery of wheat to ports.

EC proposals for a reduction in "set-aside requirements" for cereal crops in 1995-1996 had little effect on prices, dealers said.

A predicted rise In European production was also Ignored by the market, preoccupied by the actual drop in world production.

The Australian harvest, hit by drought, is not expected to exceed 9.5 million tonnes this year from 17.5 million the previous year.

In addition, the Argentinian harvest appears smaller than expected. GNI said Australia would have to buy some 300.000 tonnes of US wheat to honour export contracts.

The market Is also predict Ing Chinese and Russian buying in the coming months.

TEA: Stable. The price of tea at the weekly auction re-

mained generally stable. Medium quality tea. however, dropped three pence to 117 pence per kilo from the previous week on poor demand

Top quality Assam teas from India remained at around 210 pence per kilo, while low quality tea rose slightly to 88 pence.

The economist intelligence unit estimated that the market would remain weak until mid 1995 on large harvests in India and 6ri Lanka and continued poor demand id Russia.

COTTON: Declining. The price Indicator dipped to around 0.73 dollars per pound at the end of the week after a record harvest in the United States, one of the world’s leading exporters.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicted the harvest would reach 19 million bales (each of 217.7 kilos). making the harvest the largest for 60 years.

World production should rise from 77 million bales in the 1993-1994 season (August to July) to 88 million bales in' 1994 1995, the International Cotton Advisory Committee said. Consumption, although strong, is expected to remain below production.

WOOL: Pause. The Bradford reference price dipped 25 pence to 4.38 pounds per kilo, after a technical correction on the Australian market after large rises In recent months.

The rise in prices ended up discouraging some buyers, but prices are expected to rise again in the coming weeks.

Dealers are hoping the high prices will not discourage Chinese buyers, who import large quantities of Australian wool.