Commodity ETPs Attracted $10 Billion in 1st Half, Barclays Says

By Stuart Wallace

Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Commodity-linked exchange-traded products, or ETPs, attracted $10 billion in the first half, more than double the amount a year earlier, Barclays Capital said.

Investors bought less than $4 billion of the products in the first six months of 2007 and 2006, London-based Gayle Berry and nine other Barclays analysts said in a report yesterday.

The growth ``has coincided with waning interest in commodity indices, where inflows peaked in 2006,'' Barclays said in the report. ``These trends reflect developments in the type of investors now being attracted to commodities, in particular the growing interest from retail investors.''

Commodities, as measured by the UBS Bloomberg CMCI Index of 26 raw materials, have advanced for six consecutive years. Prices are now declining on speculation that the record cost of oil, corn and other commodities will curb demand. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Commodity Index of 19 commodities fell 10 percent in July, the biggest monthly drop since March 1980.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Wallace in London at swallace6@bloomberg.net