He will be one of the worst storms in the history of Australia.
"Yasi", will meet today with wind speeds of 300 kilometers per hour on
the northern coast of the State of Queensland and also provides for
distortions in the commodity markets.
HB FRANKFURT. The damage is not known, but the markets react. The huge
storm "Yasi" has triggered fears in front of a supply shortage in
basic commodities in Australia. In addition to the sugar crop could
export of coal and copper suffer from the storm of the century, who
reached on Wednesday with winds of up to 300 kilometers per hour, the
coast of Queensland. The state in northeastern Australia was hit by
severe flooding recently.
From the natural disasters could be drawn on the sugar harvest hardest
hit. "Yasi" threatened mainly the coastal region, where about a third
of Australia's sugarcane is grown. Several sugar factories have
stopped production already. Because of the flooding was Australia's
sugar crop failed last year anyway to a bad start: 2010 in Australia
were harvested only 27.3 million tons of sugar cane - the yield is
typically 32-35 million tonnes. "What happened in Australia, the price
moves the world," said a sugar dealer in Bangkok. On Wednesday, the
price of refined sugar for delivery in London in March climbed to a
record high of $ 844.20 per tonne. The price for raw sugar on the ICE
futures exchange traded U.S. rose up to 35.20 U.S. cents per pound,
its highest level since late 1980.
The mining group Xstrata closed because of the cyclone, a copper
smelter. "This condition is likely to continue for a few days until we
have a clearer picture," said a company spokesman. The closure of
increased speculation in the commodity markets through a supply
shortage, which had previously been fueled by strong economic data
from the two top consumer countries, USA and China. The tonne of
copper was traded in London at a record price of $ 9,988.25.
The mining companies BHP Billiton and Peabody Energy closed as a
precaution several pits. The majority of coal mines in Queensland is
outside the zone where the cyclone is due to expected severe
destruction. However, the floods had already disabled at the beginning
of the export of power plants and coking coal through the seaports.
Australia supplies around half of the coal used in steel industry.
According to the analysis company Wood Mackenzie, the prices are
therefore likely to rise further.
