London, 10 March 2010

SEB, the leading Swedish Investment Bank, has today issued its latest outlook for the commodities market in the attached research, "Pluses and minuses quite evenly balanced".

Overview:

• 2009 investments in commodities set a new record of USD 60billion

• Outlook for 2010 is mixed

• Prospect of a further USD appreciation in 2010-2011 against the euro and yen is a negative factor for the commodities market

• China's demand for commodities will remain fairly high

• Commodities prices are likely to move sideways but they will be subject to large volatility

"While we expect the prices of other commodities to move more or less sideways this year, there is a chance of higher prices for precious metals and agri-commodities. We predict that energy and industrial metals will follow the general price trend, in particular, prices of wheat, maize and soya beans have fallen due to good harvests, but unfavourable weather during the spring of 2010 would result in price increases.  Gold is not especially attractive but other precious metals such as platinum and palladium will benefit from increased demand in the automotive industry."

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