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Business sentiment is unsettled, in Brazil. Distributors and end-users are frustrated with the increased transaction values proposed by their domestic suppliers. The latest initiative, delayed until July, is viewed as excessive. The business climate is challenging, in the Russian Federation. Inventory levels are being controlled, throughout the supply chain. We note a reluctance on the part of end-users to commit to forward orders. Price support from export customers is limited. In India, steel distributors, operating adjacent to the Bay of Bengal, witnessed a fall in business activity, due to the ...

Oil prices slipped on Tuesday as concerns that the global economy could be slowing outweighed an agreement by producer club OPEC on Monday to extend supply cuts until next March. Brent crude futures were down 18 cents, or 0.28%, at $64.88 a barrel by 0845 GMT. U.S. crude futures for August were down 20 cents, or 0.34%, at $58.89 a barrel, after touching their highest in more than five weeks on Monday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on Monday to extend oil supply cuts until March 2020 ...

For almost three decades, OPEC has always pumped at least 30% of the world’s crude oil, creating an informal floor for Saudi Arabia and its allies in the cartel. The level has survived everything from wars and economic crises to terrorist attacks and diplomatic spats. Yet, with OPEC set to extend output cuts for the rest of the year and potentially into early 2020, its share of the oil market is all but certain to drop below 30% for the first time since 1991, according to Bloomberg News calculations. The ...

OPEC and its allies led by Russia are set to extend oil output cuts until March 2020 on Tuesday to try to prop up the price of crude as the global economy weakens and U.S. production soars. The alliance, known as OPEC+, has been reducing oil supply since 2017 to prevent prices from sliding amid increasing competition from the United States, which has overtaken Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s top producer. Benchmark Brent crude has climbed more than 25% so far this year after Washington tightened sanctions ...

China’s oil product consumption rose 8% year on year in May to 29.73 million mt, latest data on the National Development and Reform Commission website showed. The volume also rebounded 9.9% from 27.06 million mt in April, according to S&P Global Platts calculations based on NDRC’s historical data. The increase was led by gasoline consumption, which jumped 13% year on year, while gasoil consumption rose 4.6% over the same period, NDRC data showed. NDRC didn’t provide a breakdown of volumes for each of the products. The country processed 50.02 million ...

Brazil is making it easier for China’s teapots to buy Lula crude as it seeks to win more market share in the world’s biggest oil importer. State-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA has rented offshore tanks in Qingdao in the eastern province of Shandong and delivered the first oil to them on Wednesday, Qingdao Port International said in a statement. Having local storage allows Petrobras to sell smaller volumes to the independent refineries, known as teapots, many of which are clustered in Shandong. Brazil’s crude exports to China have risen over the ...

After possibly the best first-half of a year ever for world markets, investors now find themselves hoping for a familiar fallback to keep the party going: central banks wading in with more stimulus. Some are even betting the recent wave of pessimism about the global economic outlook is misplaced, despite the possibility of a swift end to the newly agreed U.S.-China trade truce and bond markets flashing recession warnings. Few are optimistic enough to expect as stellar a run for markets as in the first six months of 2019, when ...

The U.S. dollar traded near a recent three-month low on Monday on weak manufacturing surveys, while the Australian dollar lifted after the central bank cut interest rates as expected but signalled a more balanced outlook. JPMorgan’s gauge of global manufacturing fell to its weakest in almost seven years, showing a contraction in the sector for the second month in a row, while Morgan Stanley’s own surveys showed world manufacturing shrinking for the first time since 2016. Against a basket of its rivals , the dollar was 0.1% lower at 96.75 ...

When addressing the just-concluded 14th Group of 20 (G20) summit in Japan, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged that China will further open up its market. It not only conforms to China’s interests, but contributes to the world economy, experts said. China will further open up its market, proactively expand imports, continuously improve its business environment for foreign enterprises, and press ahead with negotiations on economic and trade deals, Xi said. “What was striking was that, even though China is under various external pressures, President Xi powerfully and publicly reaffirmed China’s ...

Governments must step in to boost their economies and redress policy imbalances that have forced central banks to use up most of their firepower, according to the Bank for International Settlements. The Switzerland-based BIS, which promotes cooperation among the world’s monetary officials, used its annual economic report to urge politicians to “ignite all engines” to overcome a global soft patch. They should make structural reforms and strengthen fiscal and macroprudential measures, instead of relying on ever-lower interest rates in a debt-fueled growth model that risks turbulence ahead. “The continuation of ...

Daily rates on main tanker routes as compiled by shipbroker Charles R. Weber.

International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) global 0.50 per cent sulphur cap regulation will come into effect on January 1, 2020. The limit for sulphur content in fuel oil used in ships operating outside the designated emission control areas will be reduced to 0.50 per cent m/m (mass by mass) from the current 3.50 per cent m/m, which has been in effect since 2012. According to IMO, this new regulation will significantly reduce the amount of sulphur oxides emanating from ships and should have major health and environmental benefits for the world, ...

MABUX World Bunker Index (consists of a range of prices for 380 HSFO, 180 HSFO and MGO (Gasoil) in the main world hubs) continued upward changes on June. 28 380 HSFO – USD/MT 418.12 (+1.97) 180 HSFO – USD/MT 456.25 (+1.50) MGO – USD/MT 660.10 (+1.20) Meantime, world oil indexes demonstrated irregular changes on June. 28. Brent for September settlement declined by $0.93 to $64.74 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. West Texas Intermediate for August delivery fell by $0.96 to $58.47 a barrel on the New ...

When we think about transport, planes, trains and automobiles are the three modes that most readily spring to mind. In reality, no method shapes our world more than shipping. It is the foundation of the global economy, with more than 90% of trade carried via the sea. It remains, according to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), “by far the most cost-effective way to move en masse goods and raw materials around the world.” However, it is also one of the world’s most polluting sectors. The more than 90,000 ships that ...

Here’s another North American victim of the protracted China-U.S. trade dispute: optimistic shipping outlooks. In its June container port briefing, U.K.-based shipping consultancy Drewry echoed a host of other analysts in pointing to a global trade slowdown. Neil Davidson, Drewry’s senior ports and terminals analyst, said 2019’s first quarter “is all about the global slowdown [a] declining trend [that is] evident since Q3 2018 onwards.” Port throughput growth, he said, had dropped to 3.7% in the year’s first quarter compared with 6.2% in 2018’s first quarter. While the West Coast ...