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Weekly commodity market review

Prices of gold, cotton fall while tea rise
LONDON. Mar 23: The advance of rebels loyal to Laurent-Desire Kabila in the east of Zaire has spread panic among metal traders on the London market, who fear that President Mobutu Sese Seko's faltering grasp on power might hinder copper supplies, reports AFP.
Mineral-rich southeastern Zaire, where the mighty Congo River rears its head, may soon fall to rebel forces, they feared. Shaba province holds one of the world s richest copper seams, making Zaire the sixth most important copper producer in terms of output.
GOLD : Seesaw. Gold prices fell sharply early in the week, as traders were alarmed by proposed legislation in Switzerland which could open the way for substantial gold sales by the Swiss National Bank (SNB).
A gold analyst at Union Bank of Switzerland in London, Andy Smith, said that Bern intended to reduce a minimum requirement for the bank's gold reserves, which Hitherto had been pegged at 40 per cent of the value of bank notes in circulation.
This minimum reserve requirement is due to be reduced from 40 to 25 per cent of the cash supply, the analyst said.
SILVER : Sluggish. Silver prices did not change from last
week's levels of 5.26 dollars per
PLATINUM AND PALLADIUM : Jitters. Platinum and palladium prices wavered this week, as dealers became, concerned over the future of Russian exports of the metals to Japan.
Japan's car. and electronics industries provide the backbone of demand for these two metals, used in catalytic converters and electronic circuit boards.
Platinum prices dipped slightly to 378 dollars per ounce and palladium prices to 148 dollars per-ounce.
COPPER : Hard. Copper prices strengthened this week as market reserves dwindled and a question mark loomed over future output from Zaire after anti-government rebels seized the country's third most populous town. Kisangani, in the northeast.
Dealers fear the rebels, led by Laurent-Desire Kabila, might seize the southern town of Lubumbashi, in mineral-rich Shaba province.
LEAD : Dull. Lead prices remained inert around the 695-dollar-per-tonne mark amid quite trading. At the end of the week, prices were nudged slightly higher after the LME
announced a fall of 1.050 tonnes in its official reserves.
ZINC : Sparkle. Speculative buying lifted zinc prices to their highest level for four and a half years this week. Three-month prices rose by about 20 dollars to 1,300 dollars per tonne.
Dealers predicted that zinc reserves would fall throughout the year, taking the market to the brink of a supply deficit.
OIL : Pause. Brent North Sea oil prices settled between 20 and 20.20 dollars per barrel this week, after recent price fluctuations.
Some dealers noted that demand for petrol in the United States had taken off ahead of the habitual "driving season." In the summer months, the nation's gas-guzzlers take to the roads and the frequency of car use there soars.
RUBBER : Sterling. Rubber prices on the London market firmed by five dollars to 802.5 pounds per tonne, as the value of the pound sterling fell slightly against the major currencies. .
COFFEE: Strong. Coffee prices remained strong this week in the face of limited stocks of high quality arabica beans grown In Latin America.
In London, the price of robusta coffee, which is grown mainly in Asia and Africa, held
firm at about 1.650 dollars per tonne.
TEA : Boiling. Tea prices bubbled over in the London auction houses, as imports from Kenya started to dry up in the wake of a drought in teagrowing regions of the country. Kenya is usually the most important exporter country at this time of the year.
Medium quality leaves rose to their highest level since September 1994 at 128 pence Eer kg. which was two pence igher than last week.
SUGAR : Crystallised. Sugar prices crystalised around 305 dollars per tonne, despite predictions by numerous analysts that prices were set for a meltdown.
Czarnlkow trading house said that prices remained high because of Reluctance on the fiart of Cuban, Thai and Brazil-an exporters to offload this
Another trader said that the current high prices were Justified by rumours of heavy buying from Pakistan. The country reaped a smaller-than-expected harvest and might face a production deficit of up to 600,000 tonnes.
VEGETABLE OILS : Spurt. Rumours of Chinese buying lifted soya prices by 31 cents to 8.52 dollars per bushel (of 27.2
kg) on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).
US dealers predicted that Beijing was due to buy large quantities of soya because of the low level of Chinese stocks. Any sizable rise in demand would put the heat on soya prices. Because stocks in the world's number one producer country, the United States, have touched rock bottom.
Dealers were also troubled by drought in Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande Do Sul. which might ravage the next harvest there.
Rapeseed oil prices fell by two guilders to 102 per 100 kg. Sunflower oil fell by 15 dollars to 520 dollars per tonne.
GRAINS : Buoyed. Wheat prices in Chicago were buoyed by the prospect of the American great plains — known as the bread basket of the world, for their rich cereal potential — becoming waterlogged this spring.
COTTON : Shrunk. Cotton prices on the US cash market covered by the cotton outlook index shrank by two cents to 80 cents per pound after speculative selling hit prices on the New York futures market.
WOOL : Slip. Wool prices in Australia fell by seven Australian cents to 619 cents per kg on the eastern index, amid quiet trading, dealers said.