COMMODITIES

Oil fell below $78 a barrel on Tuesday, extending its recent losing streak, as producer group OPEC said supply was ample to meet winter demand and trimmed estimated demand for its oil.

Oil fell below $78 a barrel on Tuesday, extending its recent losing streak, as producer group OPEC said supply was ample enough to meet winter demand and trimmed estimated demand for its oil.

Oil dipped below $78 a barrel on Tuesday, extending a losing streak from last week due to an expected dent in heating demand as northern hemisphere weather turned milder after a prolonged cold spell.

China's iron ore imports in December totaled 62.16 million tonne, up 11.09 million tonne month on month and up 80.02 per cent year on year. In 2009, China's iron ore imports came to 628 million tonne, up 41.6 per cent year on year.

Demand for diamonds on the world market will make it possible to double production by 2020, due to a recovery of the US economy and the needs of countries such as China and India. Doubling of production would be a result of a rise in China's market share to 10 per cent and increasing demand from India by 2015, as well as from retailers and long-term acquisition contracts.

Oil rallied above $78 per barrel on Monday, snapping a five-day losing streak as the dollar eased against a basket of currencies, but concern over the outlook for energy demand and economic recovery weighed on the market.

In 2010, iron ore prices in India are set to soar by around 15-20%. This is apart from the rise Indian witnessed in Dec 2009 when the iron ore prices jumped by around 30 per cent. While the prices of iron ore with more than 64% ferrous content have already gone up from around $59-61 per tonne to $117 (free on board) per tonne, prices are expected to climb further by 15-20% in 2010.

Barring sugar, all other agri commodities have turned bearish since the beginning of the new year, providing much needed relief to consumers and policy makers. Prices of agricultural commodities have declined by up to 11 per cent since January 1 which analysts attribute to a downward turn in the global markets. Also, fresh arrivals, including pulses, have provided relief to the government.

Following the arrest of 21 diamond traders from India, mainly from Surat, the Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) is mulling to pull out of the diamond cutting and polishing business in China. China had nabbed 21 Indian diamond merchants for alleged smuggling of diamonds from Hong Kong to China. External affairs ministry officials said the ministry will help the traders legally.

In a bid to make India Solar and Wind Valley on lines of Silicon Valley, The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has urged the Finance Minister to completely exempt imported equipment from levy of import duty for setting up of Solar and Wind Power plants.

National Food Authority (NFA) of the Philippines said it will allow private firms to import 163,000 tons of rice this year. With this the total imports by the world's biggest buyer for 2010 to a new record high of over 2.4 million tons, the state-run food agency said in a statement.

Gold edged higher in Asian trade Friday as the dollar dropped against major currencies. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1,144.40 per ounce at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while U.S. gold futures for February delivery were at $1,144.60 per ounce.

World oil prices remained below $80 a barrel in Asian trade Thursday after reports of increase in US stockpiles. Light sweet crude for February delivery was seen trading at $79.80 a barrel at 11.15 a.m Singapore time while Brent crude was at $78.49 a barrel at the same time.

Gold prices advanced for the second successive day in Asian trade Thursday as the dollar remained under pressure. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1143.45 an ounce at 11.15 a.m Singapore time while U.S. gold futures for February delivery were up 0.6 percent at $1,143.30 per ounce at the same time.

The gold price boom in the last one year has turned several commodities analysts into bullion experts. But when it comes to consistent forecast of gold price, everyone loves to listen to what Jim Sinclair utters. A seasoned gold bull, Sinclair has been arguing all these years that gold is real money and thus gold price is headed for a boom.

As the economic downturn persists, lawmakers are increasing tobacco product taxes. This is changing the tobacco market, says 7 Leaf Trading Post CEO Ric Gardiner, and Native American and all-natural cigarettes may be a big beneficiary.

A plan by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to join a consortium advocating revenue transparency earned the praise of those watching its emerging oil sector. Maliki during the weekend announced plans to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative by becoming an EITI candidate country in February.

Zimbabwe, the country with over 1,00,000 per cent inflation, has done everything to cash in on the gold boom witnessed in the world during the past year. As a result, the country's gold production has gone up by almost 35 per cent to 4.2 tonnes last year. This is a remarkable recovery fro Zimbabwe and its mining sector despite erratic power supply.

Days after the Vietnam government announced the closure of some 20 gold exchanges operating in the country, investors have abandoned the gold trading floors and turnover in the bourses has plunged. Early this month, Vietnam's central bank-the State of Bank of Vietnam-asked all the gold exchanges to shut shop by March 31. Vietnam has around 20 gold trading floors where investors could deposit a small fund and then trade 14 times the value of their initial investment.

The food industry worldwide is increasing using nanotechnology for use in food and packaging and according to The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, nanotechnology has the power to deliver benefits to the customers. However, the Parliamentary Committee has criticised the food industry for failing to be transparent about its research into the uses of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials.

Stillwater Mining Company, which last year lost its platinum and palladium supply contracts to General Motors, however staged a comeback by announcing and impressive 2009 recovery in platinum group metal (PGM) prices following the collapse in the prices in the fourth quarter of 2008 during the economic meltdown.

NovaGold Resources (NG.TO) expects to soon release a new mine plan for its Galore Creek copper-gold joint venture in British Columbia and may take a more aggressive approach with the project this year, it said on Tuesday.

China Gold Association said the nation will surpass India as the biggest consumer as the precious metal's allure as a solid, tangible, intrinsically valuable store of wealth seems to be growing further in China. According to CGA, the estimated demand for gold in the country was 450 tons in 2009, up 13.8 percent from 395.6 tons in 2008.

Mark Mobius, Executive Chairman of Templeton Asset Management says commodity stocks are going to be the best performers in 2010. Lots of investors and investment funds are seeing big potential in commodities especially in India and China, Mobius said stressing that Templeton is banking on commodity stocks in the New Year as they gave the best performance in 2009.

Gold edged higher in Asian trade Wednesday despite a relatively strong dollar. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1124.42 an ounce at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while U.S. gold futures for February delivery were at $1,123.20 at the same time. Higher rates typically boost the dollar and pressure gold, which is often used as an alternative to the U.S. currency.

Global cotton production in 2010/11 is forecast at 24.2 million tons up nearly 10%, according to International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). The production in China is forecsted at 7.7 mn tonnes in 2010/11, one million tons higher than in the current season. Most of the gain is expected to come from increased area in response to higher domestic prices.

The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) has recorded 31.6% growth in volumes in 2009 as the Exchange recorded 1.5 million contracts valued at US $79 billion at the end of 2009. Surpassing the 2008 total volume of 1.142 million contracts, DGCX said that this is the highest annual volume to be achieved since inception.

With Israel's polished diamond exports more than doubled to $308.2 million in December 2009, Surat hopes to improve its diamond trade in 2010. Surat's diamond traders expect that the new year will spell a boom for the diamond business in the city, which processes almost every diamond made in the world.

The biggest churning in copper market will be seen in the coming days as employees at Chile's biggest copper mine of Codelco, owned by the government, went on a strike this week. The Chuquicamata mine in northern Chile is one of the world's largest open-pit operations and it produces about half of Codelco's output. Codelco as a whole produces about 4 per cent of the world's copper. With production in Chile's main mine hit by the strike, copper market is all set to hot up in the coming days.