LONDON. Sept 8: Oil prices flared up this week as tension gripped the Middle East after Saddam Hussein’s military incursion into the Kurdish "safe haven” in northern Iraq, reports AFP.
American missile attacks launched to punish Baghdad sent crude prices soaring for a time. But the market mainly reacted to a delay in the resumption of Iraqi oil exports.
Iraq was due to resume oil exports In the coming weeks, for the first time since the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The sale of about 700,000 barrels a day was to raise funds to pay for food and medicine for the suffering Iraqi population.
But this ”oil-for-food" deal is to be delayed, the United Nations has decided, which has thrown the international markets into confusion, where dealers were counting on the arrival of Iraqi crude to calm overheated oil prices.
Elsewhere on the commodities market, copper prices swung up and down like a yo-yo, first soaring then plunging, due mainly to technical trades. ■ Gold: Stable. The gold market hardly reacted to> the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East and prices fluctuated between 386 and 387 dol-
lars per ounce.
Dealers have turned their noses up at this commodity, preferring to Invest instead in more volatile markets.
Silver: Rise. Silver prices rose slightly amid quiet trading to 5.20 dollars per ounce, about ' two cents higher than last week.
Platinum: Slump. Prices for platinum, most widely used in catalytic converters in the motor industry, dipped because of lack of interest from Investors. Prices fell by five dollars to 394 per ounce.
Copper: Soaring heights. The price of copper soared early this week on the London Metal Exchange (LME), to reach the highest level since June, when .the Sumitomo scandal caused a huge plunge in prices.
Copper prices firmed because of strike action tn several cop-Eer mines, and continued ealthy demand in the United States for this metal, used mainly in industry and construction.'
The market was worried by a walk-out at the refining operations of the Tsumeb Mine in Namibia. The owner, gold fields, has entered talks with the striking workers, but concedes that the shut-down might last a long-time.
Lead: Uncertain. The price of lead gained around five dollars to 812 dollars per tonne, on a market dominated by copper's erratic movements.
LME stocks grew slightly by 75 tonnes to 111.100 tonnes.
Zinc: Higher. The metal's price rose by around 10 dollars to 1,040 dollars per tonne, on a market led by speculative buying. LME stocks fell by 3.625 tonnes to 559,700 tonnes.
Aluminium: Little change. Aluminium prices fluctuated only a little this week and fell slightly by about 10 dollars to 1.490 dollars per tonne.
GNI trading house said movements on the copper market seemed to dominate the market and a strike at an aluminium mine owned by the American company Alcoa in the state of Ohio had no Impact on the market.
LME reserves rose by 10,475 tonnes to 942.925 tonnes.
Nickel: Firm. Three-months nickel prices held firm at about 7,500 dollars per tonne, dealers were watching the situation at the Russian port of Dudinka very closely. Dockers at the port, the key export outlet of the world's biggest nickel producer, Norlsk, have threatened to strike.
Dealers were worried that
the producer might be. forced Into cutting exports.
LME reserves rose by 136 tonnes to 37,428 tonnes.
Tin: Stable. Tin prices remained unchanged at about 6.240 dollars per tonne, while LME stocks fell by 610 tonnes to 10,115 tonnes.
Traders predicted that Chinese tin output would fall because of a halt In production caused by flooding in July.
China is one of the leading producers of this metal, used In the canning industry and in the manufacture of soldering equipment.
Oil: Flaming. Rumours of Iraqi troop movement which had sent prices higher last week were confirmed, and crude oil prices soared as tension suddenly returned to the region.
On the London market. North Sea Brent crude oil for October deliver shot up to a high of 22.85 dollars per barrel, after the United States launched missile attacks on Iraq to punish Saddam Hussein for sending his army into the Kurdish un-protected "safe have" in northern Iraq.
But once the dust had settled on the Iraqi military installations. prices fell back slightly.
to 22.30 dollars per barrel, up 1,50‘dollars on the week.
Dealers who had first been swept up in a wave of anxiety by the missile attacks realised that the Iraqi military machine was to weak to threaten the oilfields of the Middle East, the world's major oil producing re gion with Kuwait. Saudi Arabia and Iran.
But oil prices are still holding firm because of a delay in resumption of Iraqi oil exports, which have been barred from the international markets since Baghdad's invasion of Kuwait fn August 1990.
Rubber: Firm. The price of RSS latex, which comes mainly from Thailand, stabilised at 887.5 pounds per tonne.
Prices have been supported by the return of western buyers after the sleepy summer season, and by signs of a drop in production In Malaysia and Tnal-land. because of heavy rains.
Coffee: Ground. Coffee prices are on a downward spiral. In London, the price of robusta coffee fell back beneath the 1,600 dollar barrier to 1.540 per tonne. 80 dollar down on the week.
The slump was- sparked by sales by speculative investors in New York and by some producers off-loading supplies of
raw coffee.
Tea: Strong. Prices on the London tea auctions continued to advance, thanks to healthy demand for the brew in Britain.
The price of medium-quality teas gained one pence to 107 pence per kilogram.
Demand is "excellent", thanks to a surge in buying by British supermarkets, a lend trader said. Britain is the world's biggest tea importer.
Another great tea-drlnklng country, Russia has begun to buy large quantities again.
The return of buyers from Moscow on the Sri Lankan and Indian markets has helped to support prices despite the continued bumper harvests in these two key producer countries.
Sagar: High. Speculative fiurchases and technical trades aunched white sugar prices upwards this week. GNI said
Prices rose'as high as 350 dollars per tonne before slipping back slightly to 348 dollars per tonne. 3 higher than last week.
GNI said that sale of 50.000 tonnes of Pakistani sugar to India might mark the end of a policy of holding back sugar sup plies to guard against shortages on the domestic market.
Pakistan, which is a key producer and consumer of
sugar, might Step up exports in the coming months and dent sugar prices, which are currently pegged at high levels.
Vegetable oils: Blended. Soya prices on the Chicago market dipped In the face of speculative sales which followed a decline In cereal prices, but In Rotterdam prices held firm or rose slightly.
US soya prices were also hit by rainfall in producing regions that had been suffering from drought in recent weeks
But in Rotterdam soya prices rose by one guilder to 95 guilders per hundred kilos.
Palm oil rose by 17.5 dollars to 567.5 dollars per tonne, and in Kuala Lumpur prices were buoyed by rumours of hefty pur chases from Pakistan.
Sunflower oil prices gained five dollars to 585 dollars per tonne and rape-seed oil prices rose by 1.5 guilders to 95 per hundred kilos.
The oil seed rape harvest across Europe slumped to Just 6.9 million tonnes this year from 8.2 million in 1995. oil world newsletter said All Eu ropean countries except for France slashed production of this crop
Gains: Tumble The prospect
of bumper wheat harvests in the Uniteci States and across Europe, coupled with weak demand sent cereal prices into freefall this week
Importers seemed to have postponed buying up grains until the fresh harvest hits the market, as this would be accompanied by a fall in prices. In North America, the harvest was going well on the northern great plains and in Canada, despite the throat of frost which could set in over the next few days Cold weather was not thought likely to bite into production levels.
Cotton: Blooming. Fears of hurricane damage in cotton plantations in southeastern states of America, the world's leading cotton producer, lifted cotton prices.
The cotton outlook index rose by two cents to 76 cents per pound. However, at the end of the week prices fell slightly as it became clear that Fran was set to follow a far less damaging trajectory
Waal: Stable The British wool index, which covers high grade wool, held firm al 428 pence per kilo in the face of strong demand. In Australia, the eastern index tell slightly by eight Australian cents to 607 cents per kilo