On Friday, an ounce of gold traded at $2,650.24, compared to $2,658.24 seven days earlier at the close.
Coffee prices fell this week following the postponement of an anti-deforestation law in the European Union and due to an improvement in climatic conditions in Brazil.
Under pressure from the United States, Brazil and even Germany, the European Commission proposed on Wednesday to postpone by one year, to the end of 2025, the entry into force of its anti-deforestation law.
This new regulation to protect forests was to prohibit from the end of 2024 the marketing in the EU of a series of products – cocoa, coffee, soya, palm oil, wood, beef, rubber, leather, furniture, paper. .. – if they come from deforested land after December 2020.
The Brazilian government congratulated itself on having “played a fundamental role (in this postponement) by highlighting the concerns of (its) producers”.
Brazil is the world’s largest producer of coffee.
“This decision lowers coffee prices a little,” said Jack Scoville, analyst at Price Futures Group, as they reached record highs last week.
In London, on Wednesday, the price of robusta lost nearly 6.5% between opening and closing, going from $5,466 to $5,111 per tonne.
Furthermore, weather forecasts predict rain in the coming weeks in Brazil, after a month of September marked by severe drought.
Friday around 2:25 p.m. GMT (4:25 p.m. in Paris), on the ICE Futures US in New York, the pound of arabica for delivery in December was worth 252.10 cents, compared to 269.15 cents seven days earlier.
On the London Liffe, a tonne of robusta for delivery in November traded at $4,967 compared to $5,482 a week earlier at the close.
Exhausted gold
The price of gold remained at a plateau this week, near its recent historic peak, but reassured by the strength of the American economy, which pushed the dollar higher.
According to Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch, the yellow metal is about to enter a consolidation phase, after its absolute peak at $2,685.58 per ounce reached on September 26.
Paradoxically, gold has not seen its price increase tenfold by the fighting in Lebanon and the Iranian missile attack against Israel, which has propelled the barrel of oil since Tuesday and supported the American currency, another safe haven.
The increase in geopolitical risk was in fact offset by several data on the American economy which turned out to be better than anticipated by economists, in particular job creation and unemployment in September published on Friday.
The strength of the job market in the United States gives more room for maneuver to the Federal Reserve (Fed) to relax its monetary policy at a slower pace than that initially expected by the market, analysts say.
These expectations propelled the dollar over the week and particularly on Friday, pulling gold down, with investors preferring the attractive yields of the greenback, noted Fawad Razaqzada of City Index.
“Gold currently lacks an engine” to drive prices up, says Mr. Fritsch.
Furthermore, according to this analyst, “physical demand for gold in Asia should be curbed by record price levels”, as “this was already seen in August with the sharp drop in gold imports from the China”.
On Friday, an ounce of gold traded at $2,650.24, compared to $2,658.24 seven days earlier at the close.
Zinc on roofs
Zinc hit its highest level in more than a year and a half on the London Metal Exchange (LME) on Thursday, rising for two weeks due to a fall in production.
A ton of zinc rose above $3,200 on Thursday, reaching $3,209, its highest session since February 2023.
The main reason for the rise in prices is “the drop in production of zinc smelters over one year,” reported Barbara Lambrecht, analyst at Commerzbank.
Indeed, the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) forecasts a drop in refined zinc production of 1.8%, or 13.67 million tonnes, in 2024.
This decline is correlated with the decrease in zinc mining production of 1.4%, or 12.06 million tonnes in 2024.
In the spring, however, the group anticipated a slight increase in this production.
The reversal of the trend explains the sharp increase in the price of zinc for more than two weeks.
Zinc is an exception among the metals which are generally in surplus production.
On the LME, a tonne of zinc cost $3,167.50 on Friday, compared to $3,089.50 seven days earlier at the close.
