COMMODITIES

Reports from China and South Africa, two major gold producers in the world, show that gold output this year may witness a surge as several companies have ramped up their production to cash in on the rising prices and increased demand. According to Chinese media, the country produced 70.16 tonnes of gold in the first three months of 2010. This is a gain of around 4.4 per cent year-on-year. The report further added that gold mining companies in China produced 57.3 tonnes of gold in the first three...

Global commodity prices dropped Tuesday as new doubts about Europe's ability to resolve the Greek debt crisis sparked a global flight from risky investments. Crude oil and other energy contracts tumbled, a day after oil hit an 18-month high. Prices for copper and other industrial metals also fell sharply. The declines in commodities were made worse by a spike in the dollar as investors sought safe places for their money. The rising dollar tends to sap demand from foreign investors for commoditie...

Reversing its globally recognized identity as a place of world's largest ship breaking yard, the state of Gujarat is now seen emerging with huge investments pouring in to give a complete makeover to its image from a hub of ship breaking industry to the hub for global shipbuilding industry.

Global oil prices continued its southern journey in Asian trade Wednesday mainly on a strong dollar amid Greek debt crisis. Light sweet crude for June delivery was seen trading at $82.16 a barrel at 11.30 am Singapore time while Brent crude was at $85.21 a barrel at the same time in London. The dollar was at $1.2954 per euro in early trade, and touched $1.2937, the strongest since April 22, 2009, from $1.2987 in New York Tuesday.. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 2.4 percent to 1,173.60, the...

A new record was established in April, as ICE Coal Futures volumes exceeded all previous levels with over 146 million tonnes (146,445 lots) cleared via ICE Clear Europe. The volume is a full 37.7 million tonnes above the previous record of 108,730 lots established in January this year, and 2.7 times as much as traded in April 2009. In a statement issued by the globalCOAL Eoghan Cunningham, CEO of the company said, The current volatility we are seeing in coal prices is pushing more and more part...

Gold prices extended losses in Asian trade Wednesday as the dollar gained more momentum against the euro. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1167.09 an ounce at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while U.S. gold futures for June delivery were at $1,168.00 on the Comex. The precious yellow metal gave up its safe-haven status to the dollar dropping sharply overnight in step with a broad sell-off in commodities and stocks.

As Syria aggressively courts foreign investors to rescue its dwindling oil and gas sector, government corruption and problems settling disputes remain sticking points for some interested international players. But experts are divided over how contentious these obstacles truly are.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from a collapsed offshore drilling rig could affect White House plans to extend offshore drilling, press secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged as the oil slick threatened onshore sites from the Louisiana wetlands to the Sarasota beaches and disrupted fishing and energy industries.

China's steel mills, which depend on iron ore imports from India and Australia, will face major problems in the coming days as India and Australia have hiked export duty on the commodity. Last week, India raised the export tax on iron ore lump variety to 10 percent from 5 percent, and levied a 5 percent tax on iron ore fines. Currently, the average price of Indian ore with 63.5 percent iron content quoted at around $80 per tonne. China's mills depends heavily on iron ore imports from India.

International Cotton Advisory Committee said global cotton production in the coming season will leap 13% in reaction to surging prices triggered by rebounding demand and dwindling supplies. In a statement, ICAC said world cotton crop in the year from August 2010 through July 2011 is expected to climb to 114 million bales from 112 million the previous season. Cotton prices were high compared to alternative crops during the timeframe when cotton farmers make decisions on which crops to plant.

India's public oil utilities have owned a Russian oil company apart from acquiring strategic equity stakes in an oil field project in Venezuela through consortium route, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada.

Russia's Energy ministry said country's oil and gas production saw a favorable increase year-on-year in the first four months this year. In a report, the ministry said, From January to April, the country's oil output reached 165.3 million tons, which was a 3.1-percent growth over the same period of last year; while the gas production soared 20.4 percent year-on-year to 237.9 billion cubic meters.

Russia's northern Siberian province of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area is in talks with China to form joint energy projects. The Autonomous region, rich for its gas and oil reserves, accounts for more than 90% of Russia's natural gas output and 12% of oil production.

The wheat procurement by the state run Food Corporation of India (FCI) registered a slight dip due to the lower supplies in the major growing states of the country. FCI, the nodal agency for the purchase and supply of wheat and rice on the behalf of the government, wheat purchase fell marginally to 19.94 million metric tons during April 1 to May 2 period as against the 20.06 million tons a year earlier, said an official, who declined to be named.

With bullion analysts predicting a rise in gold prices following the European crisis and the Chinese crackdown on realty, scrap gold sales are set to shoot up. Scarp gold sales are normally up at a time when the gold prices go up as several people rush in to book profits. In April, India witnessed a surge in sales of old gold jewellery after remaining more or less tepid since the beginning of the new year. A consumer who wishes to sell old jewellery to a scrap trader is a contributor to recycled...

Massive oil spill on the other side of the mainland prompted actor governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of US state California to withdrew his support of a plan to expand oil drilling off the state's coast. The governor had earlier proposed expanding oil drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara County to help close the state's $20 billion budget deficit.

In its quest to ensure enough oil for its vibrant economy, China on Monday signed an MoU with Egypt to build a $2 billion refinery in the Arab nation. According to sources, two Chinese companies, Rongsheng Holding Group and China National Chemical Engineering Co. Ltd., will build the refinery, the largest such plant in the Arab nation.

Cotton prices have surged in recent months which is reflected in the Cotlook A Index that rose from 64 cents per pound in August 2009 to 84-87 cents per pound in Marcha and early Aparil 2010, according to International Cotton Adivisory Committee (ICAC).

Is the Chinese economy overheated and the dragon country on the verge of collapse? Noted global investor and economic analyst Marc Faber says the Chinese economy might crash within one year. Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, has predicted that the China is going to collapse in the wake of imminent property bubble and declining commodity and stock market prices.

India's recent decision to raise the duty on iron ore lumps will rein in export of the commodity further. The government last week increased the export duty on iron ore lumps to 15% from 10% to discourage exports and improve raw material availability for local steel mills. India's iron ore lump exports was around 11 million tonnes in 2009-10 and declined by 28% in the past four years from a peak of 15.3 million tonnes in 2006-07.

World oil prices followed gold towards south in Asian trade Tuesday after hitting a 19-month high on positive economic news overnight. The black gold dropped below $86 a barrel mark mainly on a strong dollar against major currencies amid rise in US crude and fuel stockpiles. Light sweet crude for June was seen trading at $85.81 a barrel at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while Brent crude was at $88.61 a barrel at the same time in London.

Chiadzwa in Zimbabwe is notorious for its blood diamonds. Now this place has become an big attraction for the police force in the country. Till now, only illegal miners and Army have been blamed for the blood diamonds of Chiadzwa but now the country's police force also wants a piece of the diamond business. According to media reports in Zimbabwe, police want the government to give the police force concession to do mining business in Chiadzwa diamond fields.

Gold prices eased in Asian trade Tuesday after an overnight rally put the precious metal to its highest settlement in five months. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1181.49 an ounce at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while U.S. June gold futures was at $1182.47 an ounce eat the same time. Analysts said gains in the dollar hampered gold's rally. The greenback remained firm against a basket of six major currencies on Tuesday after rising against the euro and yen on Monday on growth in U.S....

India's coffee exports surged by 37% in the seven months ended in February due to the strong demand from the major importing countries, said Coffee Board of India. Overseas sales in the January-April period were 102,258 tons, compared with 71,502 tons, Nagarajaiah said. Shipments included 18,871 tons of re-exports, up from 5,338 tons in the year-earlier period, he said. Italy and Russia were among the buyers of Indian coffee.

Global cocoa prices remained higher this year and is likely to scale new heights, analysts said. Benchmark cocoa closed Friday in London at its highest for 32 years. July lot, closed up £23 at £2,359 a tonne, its highest since 1977. The spot May contract added £23 to £2,328 a tonne, £12 from a similar achievement. According to Fortis Bank Nederland, the cocoa market faces a serious structural deficit in production, which will take prices to a series of record highs, unless farmers expand plantati...

Over past fifty years, Gujarat has been a key contributor to India's industrial development specifically on the back of its resource richness minerals. Mineral resources, which are the important factors for the growth of state economy, are equally important as a yardstick to measure the overall economic growth. Gujarat, better known for its manufacturing sector, has been a rich source of various minerals that are directly or indirectly a basic raw material for strategic industries in the country...

Pakistan's wheat production is expected to decline sharply by 1.5 million tons to 22.5 million tons in 2010-11 due to lower availability of irrigation water and dip in rainfall. Pakistan - one of the world's biggest wheat producer - is being undermined by the silting of its national irrigation network, which has cut water availability to a fraction of historic levels.

Those investors who were banking on the bad news from Europe to help gold prices rise may have to think twice. With several market analysts predicting a big bull run in bullion, investors have been rushing to gold as a safe haven following the disastrous news spread about the financial crisis in Spain, Portugal and Greece. And, this week more doomsday predictions cropped up about an imminent slump in China also.

Bullion and precious metal investors heaved a sigh of relief this week, following the decision of EU and IMF to bail out debt-ridden Greece. In fact, the Greek tragedy and the cascading impact on other European nations had hit the bullion market and palladium and platinum prices. With the Greek tragedy threatening to spread to other nations like Spain and Portugal, gold prices became unpredictable for investors and even the demand for platinum group metals (PGMs) showed a decline fearing that th...