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Commodity market: Gold, oil, tea fall over week
LONDON. Jan 26: Coffee prices surged by almost 20 per cent this week on the London futures market, after a strike paralysed Colombia's main port, bringing an abrupt halt to shipments ofthe precious sacks of Colombian coffee, reports BSS.
The price of the bean has now swung decisively out of the doldrums it had been languishing in until the end of 1996.
The main producing countries this week decided to reduce their coffee exports during the first half of the year, hoping in this way to obtain a better price for their beans.
But this export limitation plan, which has been in place for several years, did not prevent prices from floundering during the whole of last year. The market is likely to pay more attention to the poor har vest now expected In Brazil, the world's number one producer.
Elsewhere on the commodities market, aluminium has put behind it the gloom of the closing months of last year. Prices have begun to recover amid fears of shortage of metal for sale over the coming months.
GOLD: Selling. Gold prices came under renewed pressure on the London bullion market and fell to their lowest point since September 1993. at less than 350 dollars per ounce. A rise in the dollar and persistent
pessimism among investors with regard to the precious metal depressed market sentiment.
An analyst from Londonbased trading house GNI said that the dollar's rally had been "pressuring gold." The greenback firmed sharply against other major currencies over the week, making gold (which is quoted in dollars) more expensive for non-US investors.
Rumours of gold sales by European central banks to help their governments meet the debt criteria for the single European currency have again surfaced on the market.
The Dutch central bank, which recently announced the sale of 300 tonnes of gold, or about one fifth of its reserves, might decide to sell a further 200 tonnes. GNI said.
The plunge in gold prices has been so severe that mines in South Africa could start to cut production, as extraction costs overtake the market price of the precious metal.
Towards the end of the week, however, gold prices recovered a little, encouraged by silver's sparkling performance, to 353 dollars per ounce, down one dollar over seven days.
SILVER: Speculative. A wave
of buying by US investment funds drove the price of this precious metal to a two-month nigh, at 4.95 dollars per ounce, up 20 cents from the previous week.
This sudden rally appeared to be for purely technical reasons.
PLATINUM: Weak. Platinum followed in gold's wake, losing two dollars to 358 dollars per ounce.
COPPER: Firm. The threemonth delivery price of this metal, used extensively in the construction industry and to make electrical wires, held firm at 2.250 dollars, underpinned by a shortage of supplies for sale on the cash market, especially in Europe.
But analysts believe that this is only a temporary phase and this "tightness" will soon be a distant memory.
A strong rise in official stocks held by the London Metal Exchange (LME) should help to ease trie market shortfall. LME stocks tose by more than 10 per cent over the week to 156.000 tonnes.
LEAD: Lighter. Lead prices fell slightly by five dollars, but remained above the 700 dollar level, at 705 dollars per tonne. The market took some cheer
from a fall of 2.175 tonnes in LME reserves to 1.14.500 tonnes.
ZINC: Flat. The price of zinc, a metal mainly used in anticorrosive treatments, remained fairly stable after last week's rally, at around 1.140 dollars per tonne, a high for almost two years.
Zinc prices, which for months had varied little, had shot up suddenly during the previous week after a sharp drop in LME market stocks.
This week. LME reserves fell more modestly, losing 2.650 tonnes to 483.700 tonnes.
ALUMINIUM: Rise. Aluminium prices rose by 25 dollars to their highest level since May 1996 at about 1,640 dollars per tonne.
Dealers reacted to low stock levels, in the far east, where consignments from Russia have reached a low point, and in the United States.
London metals' analyst Tony Bird said that after "the low prices seen at the end of 1996. tightness of supply and strong demand are set to push prices higher."
NICKEL: Brittle. Nickel prices remained unchanged at about 7,350 dollars per tonne. A fall of 948 tonnes in LME stocks
to 48.828 tonnes had little impact on the market.
Analysts at billion metals said that he surge in nickel prices at the start of 1997 was due solely to speculative purchases and had nothing to do with the fundamentals of the market.
OIL: Slump. Crude dealers have been dreaming about the end of biting winter weather in the Northern Hemisphere and the glimmer of light at the end of the season's dark tunnel caused brent North Sea oil prices (for delivery in March) to fall by 40 cents to 22.35 dollars per barrel.
Oil prices have been inflated by rock-bottom stocks in the United States, which is far and away the thirstiest consumer country in the world.
Dealers quoted Turkish military sources as saying that the oil pipeline between Turkey and Iraq had been targeted by Kurdish separatists, but the alleged attack had no impact on pumping operations
RUBBER: Sticky Rubber prices stuck at 782.5 pounds per tonne, amid quiet trading and plentiful stocks on the London market.
COCOA: Cooling. Speculative selling took the heat out of the
"cocoa market this week and prices fell by five pounds to 885 pounds per tonne in London.
A fall in the value of the pound, which should have increased demand for sterling -denominated contracts on the London market, had little Im pact on prices.
COFFEE: Boiling. Coffee prices bubbled up by almost 20 per cent on the wings of speculative purchases on the London futures market, as dealers feared a fall in exports from key producer countries. The price of robusta coffee, which comes mainly from Africa and Asia and is widely used in the manu -facture of instant coffee, surge to its highest point since September 1996 at about 1.600 dollars per tonne.
Strike action at the sea port of buenaventura, where consignments of the world's second most important producer country. Colombia, emerge onto the Pacific export market, sent tremors through dealing rooms here.
TEA: iced. The price of medium quality teas fell by four Gnce to 103 pence per kg in the ndon auction houses. British dealers noted, however, that the last shipments of high grade Assam brews to come on to the
market this season have commanded strong demand.
SUGAR: Melting. The prospect of a worldwide produc-tion surplus sent tremors through the sugar market this week and prices fell by five dollars to 196 dollars on the London market.
Leading sugarcane producers. Including Brazil and India, and the core sugarbeat producers in Europe were all expected to reap monster harvests.
GNI trading house suggests that prices were nudged lower by a wave of exports from India. The country, which is the fore most consumer and producer of sugar in the world, is in the throws of loosening Its tight control ofthe sugar market, af ter a string ol record harvests
Rumours of large scale or ders from Iran ana Indonesia were not enough to contain the fall In prices
VEGETABLE OILS: Damp ened. Showers on the Brazilian soya plantations quenched crops there and prices dropped back oft their recent highs on the Chicago market.
GRAINS: Weak: Wheat prices fell this week, weighed down by lack of buyers On the Chicago market, the price of wheat lost 12 cents to 3 76 dollars per
bushel (27.2 kgs each). Traders gloom was heightened by the uncertainty hanging over a big order expected from Egypt.
In London, wheat prices held steady at 92 pounds per tonne, supported by the prospect of large-scale purchases from Iraq and Tunisia.
Maize prices fell by three cents to 2.70 dollars per bushel (25.4 kgs) in Chicago, as dealers turned their thumbs down at the decision of South Korea, usually a big importer of American maize, to shift some orders to China.
China and also Argentina have a competitive edge against US producers, as they are able to offer maize at cheaper prices.
COTTON: Uncertain. On the futures market, the price of the fibre fluctuated this week as speculators sold and bought in turn uncertain about the prospects for future demand.
This had a knock-on effect on the cash market, where prices fell to 79 rents before climbing back to 80 cents per pound (0 454 kg) the same level as the previous week
WOOL: Warm Prices held onto 420 pence per kg on the British wool market, while in Australia, the eastern index which covers the Australian auction houses eased by 12 Australian cents to 605 cents l>ei kg