Breaking news Commodity Markets Saw Mixed Trend Last Week Except For Agricultural Group Lastminute news

Cocoa prices skyrocketed, while precious metals saw declines across the board.

Commodity markets were mixed last week except for the agricultural group, as expectations for the US Federal Reserve's first rate cut this year were postponed to the fourth quarter, while agricultural commodity prices surged over drought concerns and a slowdown in planting due to excessive rains.

The Fed's April 30 to May 1 meeting's minutes revealed that despite recent data pointing to a longer-than-expected disinflation process, some bank officials were open to raising interest rates if need be, though the policy rate was kept unchanged at 5.25% to 5.50% at the meeting.

The ounce price of gold and silver both lost 3.3% last week, while palladium lost 4.3% and platinum 5.5%.

Meanwhile, copper prices fell sharply as mills in China refused to pay record prices, as well as due to hawkish statements by Fed officials on inflation.

Additionally, the London-based mining firm Rio Tinto Group's operations were disrupted due to a gas shortage, prompting it to declare a force majeure on planned aluminum shipments from its refineries in Australia, leading to supply concerns.

Given this, the pound price of copper fell 7.3%, nickel fell 4.2% and lead 0.4%, while aluminum climbed 1.3% and zinc 0.4%.

Brent crude oil prices fell on demand concerns in the US as the American Petroleum Institute estimated that commercial crude oil stocks would increase by 2.4 million barrels last week.

As for the energy group, the barrel price of Brent crude oil fell 2.2% and the price of natural gas traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange in million British thermal units (MMBtu) decreased 4.7%.

Wheat prices rose on continued concerns over Black Sea supplies and a possible drought in Russia while soybean prices rose as planting in the US slowed due to wet weather.

The bushel price of wheat traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange jumped 7.9%, corn 2.7% and soybeans 1.8%, while rice fell 2.2%.

Coffee prices climbed on drought concerns in Vietnam, whereas the increased rainfall in the US and demand from China brought production concerns, causing cotton prices to rise.

Cocoa prices skyrocketed following the release of data by independent researcher The Hightower Report signaling that cocoa production in the 2024-25 season could suffer due to farmers not being able to use fertilizers in West Africa.

Cocoa demand remained strong despite record-breaking cocoa prices, analysts said.

The pound price of cotton rose 7.7%, coffee 5.6% and sugar 1.8%.

The ton price of cocoa skyrocketed 12.9% last week.

*Writing by Emir Yildirim -
Sondakika-haberleri net