Very few commodities escaped the last quarter’s bloodbath – rough rice and cotton were two of a handful.
Spot iron ore prices fell $US8 a tonne, or 13% and not even the 8% slide in the value of the Aussie dollar in the quarter will make the three months to September 30 a small ray of sunshine for iron ore miners.
That was due to weakening demand from China, which is at the root of all the troubles in commodities.
Bloomberg’s Commodity Index dropped 14% in the three months, illustrating the size of the decline among exchange traded commodities.
Oil, gold and copper all suffered double digit falls for the quarter, and big losses for September.
Comex gold futures in New York sold off on the last day of the quarter, down 1% on the day to $US115,20 an ounce, down 1.5% for the month and 4.8% for the third quarter. Year to date, they are off 5.8%.
Comex December silver also sold off yesterday, in the month and quarter
The futures lost 5.5 cents, or 0.4%, to $US14.518 an ounce in New York overnight.
That left silver down 0.5% for then month, 6.8% for the quarter and 6.9% for the year to date.
And Comex copper futures added 9 cents, or 4% yesterday to $US2.341 a pound in New York, but that smacked of late window dressing.
Copper fell over the month, was 10% down over the quarter and is off 17% for the year so far.
It was the 5th straight quarterly fall for copper.
In oil Brent crude lost half a per cent to $US47.97 a barrel and just on 25% in the quarter and more than 8% for the month. They are off 14% for 2015 so far.
In New York West Texas Intermediate crude lost 14 cents or 0.3% to end at $US45.10 a barrel, down 14 cents, or 0.3%.
US crude lost 8.4% for the month, more than 23% lower for the quarter, and if around 15% down for the year to date.
