VOA慢速英语2010年-Economics Report - Commodity Prices Re

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Commodities are basic materials that are used and traded worldwide. The price of commodities helps determine how much a business can charge for a product and the profit it can make. Commodity prices have reached a two-year high since falling sharply during the world financial crisis.

Hard commodities are materials like iron ore, oil and gold. Agricultural products are soft commodities. These include wheat, cotton and rice.

Economic measures show the world economy is recovering unevenly¹. China and India, for example, have reported strong growth in manufacturing. Developed nations have had slower growth.

John James is a business professor at Pace University in New York State. He says demand in developing economies can push up prices for commodities like oil and iron ore used for making steel. But, he says, changing currency values can also influence prices.

JOHN JAMES: “The spike² in the price of commodities [is] a reflection of the instability of both the euro and the dollar and the best example of that, of course, is gold.”

A buyer in Jammu, India chooses gold jewelry³. Gold is commodity traded worldwide and in futures⁴ markets

Gold prices have reached record levels in recent months. That means gold dealers⁵ must pay more for the commodity now than they did only a year ago. That affects current prices.

Not surprisingly, manufacturers want some control over the prices they pay for commodities. Futures contracts are agreements between a buyer and a seller to exchange something at a set price at some time in the future. These contracts let buyers lock in a price for basic materials.

But some traders in futures markets only want to make a profit. They buy or sell contracts depending on the direction they believe prices will go. These speculators get blamed when prices rise, or fall, too quickly.

The United States, Germany and France are looking into ways to limit this kind of trading.

Some experts say exporting commodities is not a good path to long-term economic growth. The United Nations recently reported that the least developed countries must change their economies to provide good incomes for their citizens.

Supachai Panitchpakdi leads the UN development group UNCTAD. He says the least developed countries need to cut dependence⁶ on commodities and manufacture products for export. He says only this will let them gain from world trade.

And that’s the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember.

　

1 unevenly   

adv.不均匀的

参考例句：

• Fuel resources are very unevenly distributed. 燃料资源分布很不均匀。
• The cloth is dyed unevenly. 布染花了。

2 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

3 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

4 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

5 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

6 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。