After months of decline, the price of natural gas in Europe rose due to geopolitical developments in Eastern Europe, and in mid-April it again reached above EUR 30/MWh – Global Economic Outlook April 2024 – Other Commodities

The price of natural gas in Europe, after those months of decline, rose due to geopolitical developments in Eastern Europe, and in mid-April it again reached above EUR 30/MWh. Russia has also undertaken new flows of underground gas pipelines to Ukraine. Any increase in the price was only limited by the high amount of gas in Europe. Against the strong growth in prices, the forecast of warmer weather and the production of domestic power plants, the strong production of nuclear power plants in France or the supply of gas from Norway also work. Together with the price of gas, the price of coal for the European market also rose due to strong demand from there and tightened US sanctions on Russian imports.

The price index of industrial metals grew strongly in March and the first half of April and reached its highest level since the Czech Republic. The prices of all its components, except for lead, rose. The reason was the increase in the activities of the global and national manufacturing industry and the drop in metal stocks on the LME (except for lead). The price of iron ore, on the other hand, fell during the month of April due to weak demand from the steel industry in the Czech Republic. The price of steel abroad reached its lowest level at the beginning of April due to the poor situation of the local construction industry. However, steel imports have increased since then, when foreign buyers take advantage of low prices and thus compensate for weak domestic demand.

The food commodity price index continued its strong growth in April, the third month of the month, which also recorded the highest value since 2023. The previous decline was compensated by the price of warbler, while the price of kukui and sji continued to rise again. At the beginning of April, the price of flowers rose sharply (due to strong rains in Brazil and a drop in imports from Vietnam) and the price of cocoa reached another record high (due to the unpleasant weather in West Africa). On the other hand, the falling trend was prolonged by the river price, and in April the price of sugar and beef also started to fall slightly.