Commodity prices to drop in 2020: WB

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven most commodity prices down amid the global economic shock, said the World Bank on Thursday.

The pandemic will most likely bring down commodity prices substantially lower over 2020, the World Bank said in its April Commodity Markets Outlook.

"Sudden stop to economic activity and the serious global slowdown that is anticipated have hit worst energy and metals commodity prices," it said.

The World Bank projected that metal prices would drop 13 percent overall in 2020 as the shutdown in key industries weighs heavily on the market.

"Industrial metals would be affected the most by the global economic slowdown, in particular, that of China, which accounts for more than half of global metal demand," the Commodity Markets Outlook stated.

The World Bank projects crude oil prices to average $35 per barrel in 2020, a 43 percent drop from the 2019 average of $61 per barrel. This is a sharp downward revision from the October forecast.