Shanghai. December 20. INTERFAX-CHINA - China's plans to allow greater foreign participation and to streamline the gold industry are unlikely to impact short-term market supply or demand, but they are the first steps towards integrating the country's gold exchange into world markets, analysts say.

INTERNATIONAL oil prices soared in 2006, reaching an all-time high of US$78,36 per barrel in August impacting negatively on non-oil-producing countries such as Zimbabwe.Fuel prices in Zimbabwe were very volatile this year with fuel dealers charging prices well above the Government-stipulated pricesFor the greater part of the year the country was caught in a fuel price spiral caused by shortages of foreign currency and rising international oil prices.
The rise in international oil prices came mainly on the back of political tensions in the Middle East as well as worries that members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries would be unable to increase output in the event of supply disruption from other major producers. Opec accounts for about 40 percent of the world's crude oil supplies, and currently production is at around 28 million barrels per day.
In the past, the steep rise in oil prices occurred mostly in the wake of disruptions to oil supplies, such as the first and second oil crises, the Gulf war, Iraqi war and terrorism concerns, etc.
The rise in oil prices has had an adverse impact on the world economy, particularly on non-oil-producing countries, as this translates into a corresponding rise in oil prices on the local market, and hence general rise in prices.
Furthermore, the trends in the international oil situation and oil prices are major factors that have a significant influence on world economic growth.
In Zimbabwe, fuel prices have risen from around $280 per litre six months ago to around $2 700 although the gazetted price remains at $335 per litre.
The volatility of the exchange rate on the parallel market has also led to speculative pricing, causing unwarranted price hikes.
In these difficult times, it is imperative for the authorities to be innovative and introduce measures that rid the fuel sector of the retrogressive arbitrage and rent seeking activities to establish some form of control.
In trying to mitigate the effects of oil prices, Zimbabwe has taken an aggressive campaign to look for substitutes in the form of biodiesel and coal bed methane.
In an effort to prevent any weakening of prices in 2007 Opec has unanimously agreed to cut output by a combined 500 000 barrels (2 percent) per day, with the move delayed until February 1 when the northern hemisphere winter season comes to an end.
This move was, however, against the warnings from the International Energy Agency, the oil consumers' club, that the previous cut of 1,2 million barrels agreed in October but not fully implemented was already leaving the market tight.
By postponing the further reduction until the peak demand period has passed, Opec was also responding to most importer nations' concerns that an immediate cut would drive prices higher.
Meanwhile, US government data released last week showed that crude oil stocks in the world's largest consuming economy had fallen by 4,3 million barrels as imports declined, while a monthly report from the IEA, an advisor to 26 industrialised countries, re-vealed that industrialised countries' crude oil stocks had declined by 40 million barrels in October.
These data in turn stand as evidence that the November 1 2006 production cut implemented by the oil cartel was impacting negatively on the economy, and that the approved February 1 2007 cut was going to exert further pressure.
However, some critics continue to question the organisation's ability to work as a whole, as they made reference to the similar failed December 2004 game plan.
The price of oil has fluctuated widely over the past 50 years and the first "oil shock" occurred when Opec members, acting partly in response to the United States' support for Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, agreed to control oil supplies and raised prices by more than 400 percentOil prices stabilised in the late 1970s at around US$25 per barrel, before rising to a new peak of around US$39 per barrel following the outbreak of war between Iraq and Iran in 1981,which severely disrupted supplies.
The peak, however, was short-lived and prices gradually declined in real terms over the next 20 years, with the exception of a brief upturn associated with the 1991 Gulf War.
By 1999, oil prices fell as low as $13 per barrel, equivalent in real terms to the price prevailing before 1973 due to improvements in supply. Prices began to firm from 2000, initially responding to cutbacks in Opec output and strong global demand, particularly from the United States and China

Eastman Kodak Co.’s health group has raised prices on all its medical imaging films and related supplies; the second time Kodak done so in 2006. Kodak said the continued high costs of raw materials, especially silver, were the main reason for the 8% to 12% price increases.
“This year has seen unprecedented high costs for basic commodities such as silver. These costs continue to escalate,”president of Kodak’s health group, Kevin Hobert, said in a statement.

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Silver for March delivery sank 34 cents to $12.64 per ounce today on Nymex

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- Shares in Asian exporters such as Sony Corp. rose on Monday after tame U.S. inflation data reassured investors the world's top economy was heading for a soft landing, but miners fell on weaker base metal prices.
A regional share index touched the latest in a series of record highs and indexes in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong extended their record-setting runs.
Financial bookmakers in London forecast the FTSE 100 index to open between 10 and 21 points lower.
On Friday, U.S. data showed consumer prices held steady in November, confounding forecasts for a small rise and reassuring investors that inflation was under control in the most important overseas market for Asian firms.
Sony shares rose 2.2 percent and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. gained 2.6 percent. In Seoul, car maker Kia Motors rose 1.5 percent.
Mining stocks such as global heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto fell after base metal prices faltered, but gains for financial stocks such as National Australia Bank nudged the S&P ASX 200 to its third straight record close.
Tokyo's Nikkei rose 0.3 percent to its highest close in seven months. Toshiba Corp. gained 1.3 percent after its subsidiary Westinghouse Electric won a nuclear power contract in China estimated to be worth as much as $8 billion.
MSCI's broadest index of Asian shares outside Japan was up 0.4 percent at 0615 GMT, after earlier hitting a record, while Singapore's Straits Times and an index of Hong Kong-listed shares in mainland China firms, known as H-shares, also hit new peaks.
Seoul's benchmark index closed up 0.8 percent and Taiwan's benchmark index rose 1.1 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 0.1 percent higher at the lunchtime break.
The dollar lost steam after gaining against major currencies last week when mixed economic data appeared to make it less likely that the Federal Reserve would start lowering interest rates early next year.
The Bank of Japan is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.25 percent on Tuesday at the end of a two-day policy meeting, so dealers are focusing on what Governor Fukui has to say.
"If Fukui suggests that the BOJ could raise rates in January, we could see the yen gain, as not everyone in the market is expecting a lift next month," said Toru Umemoto, chief forex strategist at Barclays Capital in Tokyo.
The dollar bought around 117.95 yen at 0615 GMT, down a touch from late on Friday in New York. The euro firmed to around $1.3105.
March 10-year Japanese government bond futures fell 0.24 point to 134.08, after tumbling as much as 0.55 point on Friday. The benchmark 10-year JGB yield rose 2.5 basis points to 1.685 percent.
Gold was trading around $617.50 an ounce.

LONDON - OPEC on Monday said the world oil market shows signs of weakening in 2007 as economic growth slows, a problem the exporter group seeks to address through its decision last week to cut supply. In a monthly report, the group that pumps more than a third of the world's oil held its forecast for global demand growth at 1.3 million barrels per day and said a weakening US economy posed risks to the outlook."Risks for oil demand appear to be more weighed on the downside, given the dangers to global economic growth emanating from a visibly weakening US economy," the report by OPEC economists at the group's Vienna headquarters said.The report follows a deal last week by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut supply by 500,000 barrels per day, or 2 percent, from February 1. Oil in New York has risen about $2 a barrel since the decision to stand at $63.18."This reduction has been scheduled to come into effect after the winter season, ensuring sufficient crude supplies during this strong demand period while addressing looming market imbalances for 2007," the report said.Forecasts for 2007, including a supply surge from non-OPEC countries of 1.8 million bpd -- the fastest growth in two decades -- point to "weakening fundamentals," it said.Rising supply from the Caspian, Africa and other regions would, if realised, reduce demand for OPEC oil to an average of 28.29 million bpd from 28.93 in 2006, OPEC said.The world economy will also grow more slowly. OPEC expects an expansion of 4.4 percent next year led by developing countries, down from 5.1 percent in 2006.Lower outputThe International Energy Agency, adviser to the industrialised world, said last week its own, slightly higher estimate of oil demand growth next year faced downside risks.But the agency, an adviser to 26 industrialised countries, urged OPEC to hold off on making a new supply reduction because existing supply curbs were already tightening the oil market.OPEC's decision last week to cut supply followed a deal it implemented in November to lower output by 1.2 million bpd to stem a slide in prices from July's all-time peak of $78.40.The report from OPEC added to estimates showing that members have yet to cut output by the full amount promised.OPEC's 10 members bound by supply targets, all except Iraq, lowered supply to 26.86 million bpd in November, OPEC's report said, citing secondary sources.That was down 552,000 bpd from October, but well above OPEC's target for November of 26.3 million bpd.A Reuters survey on December 6 found November supply from the 10 fell to 26.91 million bpd, down 730,000 bpd from October. Reuters

LONDON — Oil prices continued to slide Tuesday, a day after a warm-weather forecast in the United States triggered the biggest one-day drop in a month.
Prices dropped 1.9 per cent on Monday, reversing last week's series of gains. It was the biggest dollar and percentage drop for the front-month contract since Nov. 16.
On Tuesday, light sweet crude for January delivery fell 37 cents (U.S.) to $61.84 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
February Brent at London's ICE Futures exchange fell 56 cents to $61.57 a barrel.Monday's price drop in the oil complex was led by heating oil, which dropped after the U.S. National Weather Service predicted above-normal temperatures for most of the country, the world's biggest energy user, for the rest of December.
Crude oil prices rose $1.41 a barrel last week, mostly because the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries agreed to cut production by a further 500,000 barrels a day starting February. The decision came on the heels of the cartel's October decision to remove 1.2 million barrels a day of production from the market.
While traders were initially skeptical of OPEC's ability to get members to comply with the October cut, a drop in production from most of the cartel's 11 members has given more weight to the last decision.
Crude had less of a fall than heating oil Monday, continuing to trade between $60 and $64 a barrel, a range it has been stuck in since the end of November.
The next planned event traders will focus on is the weekly U.S. inventory data from the Department of Energy, due Wednesday.
Stocks of crude oil and distillate, which include heating oil and diesel, are expected to decline, while gasoline is expected to increase slightly.
In other Nymex trading Tuesday, heating oil futures fell 0.32 of a cent to $1.7175 a gallon, unleaded gasoline was down 0.4 of a cent to $1.6582 per gallon and natural gas futures rose 3.1 cents to $7.106 per 1,000 cubic feet.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil held above $63 on Monday, as dense fog delayed crude imports to refiners in the world's largest energy consumer the United States.OPEC's plan to deepen oil output curbs from February also lent support.U.S. crude traded down 28 cents at $63.15 a barrel at 1052 GMT, after rising 92 cents on Friday to the highest close in two weeks. Tankers struggled for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday to deliver oil supplies to refineries in Houston and Texas City, which between them account for nearly 12 percent of U.S. refining capacity.The refineries also supply crude oil to pipeline systems for refineries in other parts of the country.The bad weather has caused intermittent delays along the 53- mile (85-km) Houston Ship Channel, although forecasters said the fog should lift early this week.Fog also affected imports to other refining centers along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast.Some refiners have warned that they may need to slow fuel production due to the delays, but none so far have announced output reductions.OPEC CUTThe shipping disruptions could hit relatively high U.S. crude inventories, which may also soon start to show the effect of a 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) supply cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), effective from Nov 1. OPEC last week decided to make a second output cut of 500,000 bpd, to start from February, to prevent stockpiles rising again after the northern hemisphere winter.OPEC's deal struck a balance between price hawks concerned about inventories, and others who worried that an immediate cut could leave markets short at the height of winter.A Reuters survey shows OPEC only met about two-thirds of its November cutbacks, so some analysts question whether fresh limits will be effective in supporting prices that have slid about 20 percent from a record over $78 in July."I'm not convinced OPEC's production cuts were enough to turn this market around," said Christopher Bellew, broker at Bache Financial in London.U.S. crude oil stocks fell a sharper-than-expected 4.3 million barrels last week, but still stand at their highest since 1998 for this time of year.Supplies of crude from Nigeria, already down by about a fifth because of militant attacks, have been further trimmed by gunmen who seized an oil platform operated by Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile , Research) in the Niger Delta, shutting its 12,000 bpd oil output, the company said on Saturday.Mild weather continues to limit the need for heating fuel in the United States. Temperatures in the U.S. Northeast were expected to remain above average for at least the next five days, according to private forecaster DTN Mete