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Malaysian palm oil futures were virtually unchanged on Wednesday, weighed by forecasts of growing May inventories and production. The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 2 ringgit, or 0.06%, to 3,318 ringgit ($722.09) a tonne. The contract had earlier rose 1.75% to an intraday high but retreated as traders covered short positions. “Production and stock recovery have cast pressure on the palm market. Output is on course to rise through Q3 on the back of seasonality and easing labour shortages,” Refinitiv ...

Benchmark iron ore futures rose on Wednesday, hovering near seven-week highs, with traders clinging on to hopes for more stimulus from China as gloomy trade data added to worries about the nation’s faltering economic recovery. Top steel producer China’s exports shrank much faster than expected in May and imports fell, albeit at a slower pace, data showed on Wednesday, as manufacturers grappled with weak external demand and sluggish domestic consumption. The most-traded September iron ore on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange ended morning trading 0.6% higher at 774 yuan ($108.75) a ...

The global sovereign debt roundtable will meet on Friday to focus on technical talks aimed at discussing issues such as arrears and comparability of treatment for countries in default, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. This would be the third encounter for the group that includes representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and current Group of 20 (G20) major economies leader India after one in Bengaluru in February followed by an April meeting in Washington, during the IMF-World Bank spring meetings. The ...

U.S crude oil production this year willrise fasterand demand increases will cool compared toprior expectations, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said onTuesday. EIA issued the new outlook after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and alliesextended output cuts through 2024. Saudi Arabia will pare 1 million barrels per day (bpd) from its July output to stabilize oil markets, it said. The production cuts by the group known as OPEC+ will slightly reduce global oil inventories in each of the next five quarters and boost global oil prices ...

The joint conference of the Russian Energy Week (REW) Expert Club and the Iranian Institute for International Energy Studies (MIEI) called “Shaping the New Energy Order: Common Interests and Threats” was held in Tehran. The consensus shared by the experts attending the event was “The establishment of market regulations similar to those at OPEC+, as well as independent financial and insurance institutions, will result in higher international gas consumption, including in Asian markets. The experts believe that such institutions can be part of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) or BRICS ...

U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week, while distillate and gasoline inventories rose, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday. Crude inventories fell by 451,000 barrels in the week to June 2, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1 million-barrel rise. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 1.7 million barrels last week, the EIA said. Refinery crude runs rose by 482,000 barrels per day (bpd), while refinery utilization rates increased by 2.7 percentage points in the week. ...

Harbour Energy Plc HBR.L, Britain’s largest North Sea oil and gas producer, is in talks to merge with U.S. listed peer Talos Energy Inc TALO.N, four people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Harbour which has a market value of 2 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) and Talos, valued at $1.7 billion, have held on and off talks about a combination for at least six months, but negotiations rekindled in recent weeks, the sources said. If there is a deal, it could involve the combined company listing in New York, ...

The global economy has begun to improve, but the recovery will be weak, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook. The Economic Outlook projects a moderation of global GDP growth from 3.3% in 2022 to 2.7% in 2023, followed by a pick-up to 2.9% in 2024. Lower energy prices are easing the strain on household budgets, business and consumer sentiment are recovering, albeit from low levels, and the re-opening of China has provided a boost to global activity. Headline inflation in the OECD is projected to decline from 9.4% in ...

Asia’s spot premiums for 10 ppm sulphur gasoil rebounded to 49 cents a barrel, as buyers took cues from firmer futures prices to resume their purchases in the open market for June parcels, and sellers remained absent. This was against a backdrop of steady cracks in northwest Europe amid one unexpected refinery unit outage. Likewise, 10 ppm sulphur gasoil refining margins firmed to $15.37 a barrel. Healthy arbitrage economics to the U.S. West Coast continued to support jet fuel refining margins, with 60,000 tonnes of more jet fuel loading in ...

Greece’s economy shrank fractionally in the first quarter from the previous three months, as a drop in investment more than offset growing consumption, the country’s statistics service (ELSTAT) said on Wednesday. Gross domestic product declined by 0.1% from a downwardly revised 1.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2022, seasonally adjusted data showed. On a year-on-year basis, the economy expanded by 2.1% in the first quarter, with growth slowing from a downwardly revised 4.8% in the final three months of 2022. Household expenditure rose by 1.4% in the first quarter ...

Egypt’s General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) is believed to have bought around 55,000 tonnes of Russian wheat in an international tender, traders said. GASC did not make an official announcement of the purchase. Traders gave the following breakdown of the purchase: AGRIC SA: 55,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at $229 FOB + $15.50 freight= $244.50 Traders believed there was a lack of communication about the unofficial Russian export prices and that the lowest bidder may have sought to withdraw the offer. However, traders believe that longstanding policy is that ...

Even if some yearn for pre-pandemic familiarity after three years of global economic disruption, the euro zone may not want or need to go back there. One of the biggest questions in world markets is just how durable the changes wrought by COVID-19 – and the compounding energy shock that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – will be on economic behaviour, growth and inflation around the world. There are usually two camps – one assuming an eventual return to a slow-growth square one; another sketching a volatile world of higher ...

In May, the average price index of domestic iron ore dropped by 65 yuan/mt, showing a trend of falling at first and then rebounding. In early May, steel mills purchased iron ore as needed and kept raw material stocks at low levels due to poor profits. Steel mills lowered iron ore purchase prices. In mid-to-late May, some steel mills restarted blast furnaces as falling coke prices improved their profits, boosting iron ore demand and prices. Source: SMM

China’s exports shrank much faster than expected in May while imports extended declines with a grim outlook for global demand, especially from developed markets, raising doubts about the fragile economic recovery. The world’s second-largest economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter thanks to robust services consumption and a backlog of orders following years of COVID disruptions, but factory output has slowed as rising interest rates and inflation squeeze demand in the United States and Europe. Exports slumped 7.5% year-on-year in May, data from China’s Customs Bureau showed on ...

Russia recorded a marginal budget surplus in May, enabling it to slightly reduce its deficit for the first five months of the year to 3.41 trillion roubles ($41.9 billion), the finance ministry said on Tuesday, as monthly spending slowed. In January-May 2022 Russia posted a surplus of 1.59 trillion roubles, but outlays to support its military campaign in Ukraine and Western sanctions on its oil and gas exports have since depleted government coffers. This year’s deficit is already 117% of the annual plan. Soaring defence spending has kept Russia’s industrial ...