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DCE iron ore futures market continued moving lower when the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China

Oil prices climbed on Tuesday on hopes the United States will expand pandemic aid payments, a move that could spur fuel demand and stimulate economic growth. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled 38 cents, or 0.8%, higher at $48.00 a barrel, while Brent crude futures settled up 23 cents, or 0.5%, at $51.09 a barrel. “We are seeing strength in the oil market on the back of progress with the U.S. stimulus package,” said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tradition Energy. The Democratic-led U.S. House of ...

The dollar pared losses on Tuesday after earlier reaching a more than two-year low against the euro, but remained lower on the day as investors weighed whether an increase in U.S. fiscal stimulus is likely. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked immediate consideration of a measure to increase COVID-19 relief payments to $2,000. He suggested the Senate would at least examine the issue. “This just really delays the inevitable,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York. “With the Biden administration coming into place ...

NASDAQ-Adv: 1,067 Dec: 2,698 NYSE-Adv: 1,477 Dec: 2,518(Source: Nasdaq)

A total of 83 vessels carrying 13.44 million mt of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports during December 20-26, SMM estimates.

NASDAQ-Adv: 1,972 Dec: 1,802 NYSE-Adv: 2,204 Dec: 1,817(Source: Nasdaq)

Oil prices fell on Monday as concerns about weakening fuel demand and the prospect of higher OPEC+ output outweighed optimism over a U.S. stimulus package. Oil prices strengthened earlier in the day, with Brent rising above $52 a barrel, as Democrats aimed for larger $2,000 COVID-19 relief payments following U.S. President Donald Trump’s signing of a $2.3 trillion stimulus deal. But a new variant of the virus in the United Kingdom has led to restrictions on movement being reimposed, hitting near-term demand and weighing on prices, while hospitalizations and infections ...

The novel coronavirus mutation in the UK caused widespread concern in the market, and participants were more likely to be risk-off.

As Middle East crude oil exports are a vital part of the tanker market, it’s worth taking a look at the latest market fundamentals. In a recent weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “Kuwait is the fourth largest exporter of crude oil in the Middle East after Saudi, Iraq and the UAE. Exports have been pretty stable in recent years, and perhaps surprisingly, remain stable this year as well, despite all that’s happening in the world. This has been aided, no doubt, by a strong focus on Asian markets. ...

The European marine fuel market is hoping for calmer waters in 2021, with market sources anticipating a stronger year ahead as the rollout of coronavirus vaccine programs allow global activity to recover. Despite expectations for rising oil demand, S&P Global Platts Analytics expects levels to remain below 2019, suggesting any price rises for shipping’s main fuel – 0.5%S marine fuel — will likely be slow-going. And a warm winter could weigh on any recovery, it added. Bunker prices have risen due to vaccine optimism while demand recovery lags behinds, sandwiching ...

Choppy waters: Rebalancing of crude tanker market looks difficult as demolitions decline. The ongoing lull in scrapping activity is a worrying sign for the crude tanker market which is struggling with overcapacity. Moreover, a sharp decline in vessel earnings in 2H20 has also failed to rekindle demolitions. Only one VLCC has been scrapped since the beginning of 2019, while 104 new VLCCs have been delivered during this period, inflating tonnage supply The recent news about potential COVID-19 vaccines has imparted optimism to the oil market as prices surged past the ...

Crude oil is a complex mixture of substances at varying ratios and in most cases contains at least some salt water. Even after desalination some of this brine remains dissolved in the crude and gradually sinks to the bottom of the cargo oil tank during transport. The corrosive nature of salt, along with microorganisms and other aggressive substances contained in the cargo oil, causes rust, most notably in the form of pitting, which are cavities in the steel that deepen over time. Double-hull tankers are more prone to pitting “Pitting ...

As carbon-neutral fuel choices narrow, shipowners are beginning to look more closely at how existing and newbuild vessels might use clean fuels. Ammonia is near the top of the list for many shipowners. Ammonia has traditionally been produced from hydrocarbons, although in the future there is potential for carbon capture to reduce the emission footprint of production (so called ‘blue ammonia’) or for production from renewable, non-carbon sources such as wind or solar energy (‘green ammonia’). Independent of how it is produced, ammonia certainly has the energy potential for a ...

The China Tianjin Bulk Freight Index (TBI), an indicator of northern China’s international bulk freight rates, stood at 804.68 points on Thursday, up 0.92 percent compared with the previous working day. The statistical samples of TBI cover eight international bulk shipping routes arriving at the ports of Tianjin, Qingdao and Caofeidian. They come from coal, iron ore, nickel ore and grain exporters, such as Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines. As a sub-index of the Tianjin Shipping Index, TBI is published on working days and was first published in September 2010. ...

Average Panama Canal passage wait times for Asia-bound LNG tankers from the US Gulf Coast without reservations are up to 13 days, the Panama Canal Authority has reported. The wait times for Asia-bound cargoes have increased since the delays began in earnest in late October, while they have decreased for cargoes headed in the other direction. The ongoing constraints come at a time of surging export activity by the world’s third-largest producer of the super-chilled fuel based on capacity. Officials originally blamed fog, higher-than-average arrivals and additional safety procedures to ...