The decline in prices of raw materials on world markets in 1991 (–11 percent) will continue into the current year, though given the slight pick-up in demand at a reduced rate (–1 percent). Prices of agricultural raw materials are likely to show a steeper downward trend than metal prices. In...

World market prices of industrial raw materials have been on the decrease since the middle of 1989. This trend, interrupted only by a short-lived upward movement in the first half of 1990, is likely to continue into 1991. At the beginning of 1990, prices of Austrian imports of raw materials fell...