Commodity News for January 2015

(1.)Commodity Shipping Rate Falls to 28-Year Low on China Demand:

A measure of global shipping costs for commodities fell to a 28-year low as slowing growth in China’s demand exacerbates the effect of a fleet glut.

The Baltic Dry Index plunged 5.1 percent to 632 points, the lowest since Aug. 22, 1986, according to data from the Baltic Exchange in London on Thursday. Freight rates for all the vessel types within the measure declined.

The Central Bank of Russia bought a record amount of gold in the first 11 months of 2014 spending an estimated $6.1 billion. The amount of gold bought went up 123 percent from the previous year to 152 tons, worth $6.1 billion at current prices. It’s the most Russia has spent since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Gold rallies to best month in 3 years

Gold rebounded from a two-day loss on Friday as a sharp slowing in U.S. fourth-quarter economic growth boosted the precious metal's safe-haven value, helping it post its best monthly gain in three years in January.

(2.)Freeport-McMoRan hit by falling copper prices

A fourth-quarter loss amid sliding copper prices weighed on shares of Freeport-McMoRan, pressuring the broader material sector on Tuesday.

The Phoenix, Arizona-based company reported a loss of $2.85bn, or $2.75 a share, in the three months ended December 31. That compared with a profit of $707m or 68 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Sales fell 11 per cent from a year earlier to $5.23bn.

(3.)Codelco aims to cut 2015 costs by $1 bln as copper price plummets

World No.1 copper miner Codelco will look to slash costs by $1 billion in 2015, Chief Executive Nelson Pizarro said Friday, as the price of the base metal slumped to multi-year lows.

It is seeking to cut direct cash costs by some $0.193 per pound of copper at its operations, Pizarro told journalists. In the January through September, Codelco's cash costs averaged $1.537 per pound.

Still, none of the Chilean state-run copper miner's large...