No end in sight for raw materials rally

In the last week of April, grains set 20-year price records for four days in a row as supply fears grew, That has driven the key Knight- Ridder/Commodity Research Bureau index of commodity futures to its highest level for eight years.

"We are at the beginning of a long, secular, bull market that has only made its first mile marker," insists Goldman Sachs in its latest Commodity Watch report. The team at the leading commodity brokerage GNI Limited reckons that metals prices will rise and take over from oils and grains to continue the rally in raw materials.

Specialist commodity and energy investment trusts include the Fleming Natural Resources and Mercury World Mining trusts. Among unit trusts, TSB Natural Resources, S&P Commodity Share, M&G Commodity & General, and Hill Samuel Natural Resources, have the best 10-year track records, while Mercury Gold & General - not around a decade ago - tops the five-year league.

EDWARD RUSSELL-WALLING