Tea, coffee and cocoa prices increase this week<\/p>\n
LONDON (AFP): Tea, coffee and cocoa prices bubbled over this
\nweek, as dealers feared supplies of our favorite pick-me-ups
\nwould slow to a trickle in the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n
Any British dealer will tell you that to make a fine brew, you
\nneed a decent splash of water: the same is true of tea bushes
\nthemselves, which need a thorough soaking if they are to
\nflourish.<\/p>\n
Kenya's high plains have suffered a scorching drought of late
\nand the green leaf tips have turned tinder dry. The east African
\ncountry, which is one of the main suppliers of high grade teas to
\nthe London auction houses, has slashed supply.<\/p>\n
Kenyan output has dried up at a time of year when two other
\nkey producer countries, India and Sri Lanka, do not normally
\nexport large quantities of tea to the overseas market.<\/p>\n
Fears that coffee and cocoa supplies would fall short of
\ndrinkers' needs for the rest of the year also sent the price of
\nthese two tropical commodities through the roof.<\/p>\n
Gold: brighter. Gold brightened a little, with prices gaining
\ntwo to three dollars to US$353 per ounce, although market
\nsentiment remains very subdued.<\/p>\n
The Swiss National Bank, which last week worried investors by
\nannouncing it would sell some gold to finance a foundation for
\nhelping Holocaust victims, tried to calm them by stating that the
\ngold sales would not begin before 1999.<\/p>\n
The market is still nervous, however, mainly because of the
\nprospect of a rise in U.S. interest rates and a fresh
\nstrengthening of the dollar, which would be bad for gold.<\/p>\n
Nickel: tumble. Nickel prices dropped off the highs seen last
\nweek and fell by $100 dollars to about $8,080 per ton.<\/p>\n
The market was put on tenter hooks by the threat of strike
\naction at Russia's giant Norilsk plant, the biggest producer in
\nthe world, which might shut down from April 2.<\/p>\n
Tin: float. Tin prices rose by $155 to $6,065 per ton after a
\nfall of 420 tons in LME reserves to 9,290 tons.<\/p>\n
Oil: rise. Oil prices rose because of technical buying, after
\na period of weakness. The price of Brent North Sea crude oil,
\nwhich is used as a benchmark for oil prices in much of the world,
\ngained 60 cents to $20.20 per barrel.<\/p>\n
The markets were not influenced by a rise in US crude stocks.
\nThe rebound in prices, some analysts commented, is a reflection
\nof strong demand.<\/p>\n
The fact that prices have not fallen as low as some had feared
\nin past weeks also encouraged traders to buy oil.<\/p>\n
Rubber: stuck. Rubber prices stuck at 797.5 pounds per ton on
\nthe London market.<\/p>\n
A study by the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit
\npredicted that the market for car tires, the main outlet for
\nrubber, should continue to expand at a yearly rate of two percent
\nuntil 2005, mainly thanks to higher sales in emerging markets in
\nAsia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n
Cocoa: bubbling. Cocoa prices soared to a six-month high after
\na wave of speculative buying sparked by fears of a crunch in
\nsupplies over coming months.<\/p>\n
The London reference price (for delivery in May) gained almost
\n10 percent to 1,025 pounds per ton.<\/p>\n
Cocoa prices have been relatively low in recent years because
\nof the burgeoning stockpiles across the world, one analyst
\nexplained.<\/p>\n
Coffee: boiling. Prices continued to climb in the United
\nStates, because of low stocks of high-grade arabica beans (grown
\nin Brazil) and large-scale buying by coffee roasters.<\/p>\n
The price of robusta, mainly produced in Asia and Africa and
\nwidely used to make instant coffee, hit $1,800 per ton mid-week
\nin London, before slipping back to $1,650.<\/p>\n
The rally in prices was limited by significant sales by
\nproducers.<\/p>\n
The prospect of a fall in exports from African countries in
\nthe first half of 1997, in line with an export limitation plan
\ndrafted by the Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC),
\nsupported prices.<\/p>\n
But more fundamentally, the poor harvests expected this year
\nin Brazil and Colombia (the world's two major producers) gave the
\nmarket a lift.<\/p>\n
Tea: strong. Tea prices have been swept away by the same fever
\nas coffee and cocoa and have risen sharply in the London auction
\nhouses.<\/p>\n
Medium quality brews rose to their highest level since
\nSeptember 1994 at 126 pence per kg, which was nine pence higher
\nthan last week.<\/p>\n
Prices rocketed after Kenya, one of the London market's most
\nimportant suppliers, suffered a dramatic fall in output.<\/p>\n
Cotton: stretched. Speculative buying lifted cotton prices to
\ntheir highest level since June 1996 at 82 cents per pound, which
\nwas two cents higher than last week on the Cotton Outlook index.<\/p>\n
Some dealers said that the surge in soya prices had a knock-on
\neffect on cotton, as U.S. investors put their money on a take-off
\nin other agricultural products, including cotton.<\/p>",
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