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The most-traded stainless steel futures contract consolidated after a steep fall on June 24 with downward potentials. The contract dropped again after opening today, and fell to a low of 16,290 yuan/mt since December 22, 2021, and recorded a loss of 1.03% as of 14:08 Beijing time. In the spot market, the average price of spot 304/2B coil (burr edge, in Wuxi) was flat from last Friday at 17,500 yuan/mt. Looking back at the beginning of last week, the spot prices of 300-series stainless steel dropped significantly below 18,000 yuan/mt ...

Global copper smelting activity declined in June, hit by a stoppage in top producer Chile, data from satellite surveillance of metal processing plants showed on Monday. Chilean state-owned Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, said on June 8 that it stopped its Ventanas smelter and refinery to carry out maintenance. The move in Chile along with weak activity in China and Europe weighed on global copper smelting, according to a joint statement from commodities broker Marex and SAVANT, the satellite analytics service Marex launched with Earth-i in 2019. The data ...

Brent oil prices slipped on Tuesday, reversing earlier gains, as concerns of a possible global recession curtailing fuel demand outweighed supply disruption fears, highlighted by an expected production cut in Norway. Brent crude fell 38 cents, or 0.3%, to $113.12 a barrel by 0914 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 84 cents, or 0.8%, to $109.27 a barrel, from Friday’s close. There was no settlement for WTI on Monday because of the Independence Day public holiday in the United States. “Oil is still struggling to break out from ...

Energy ICE Brent saw further strength yesterday, settling almost 1.7% higher on the day. While there are demand concerns given the gloomier macro outlook, the market is still expected to be tight for the remainder of the year. OPEC+ producers have limited room to increase output significantly, and so are unable to provide much relief to the market. As mentioned in yesterday’s note, OPEC production declined over June, with the bulk of members falling short of their output targets. However, political pressure on OPEC members to increase output will keep ...

Investors continued to liquidate bullish long positions in petroleum last week as the economic outlook deteriorated though the rate of selling was much slower after heavy selling the week before. Hedge funds and other money managers sold the equivalent of 9 million barrels in the six most important futures and options contracts in the week to June 28, following on from sales of 71 million in the week to June 21. Most the recent adjustment has come from the liquidation of former bullish long positions as the outlook for the ...

Russia needs to wait and see how proposals on capping the price of Russian oil exports are finalised, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Commenting on reports that Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had proposed a cap at around half the current price, Peskov said that other countries may disagree with that. “This statement… does not mean that such parameters will be agreed by other countries,” Peskov told his daily conference call with reporters. “So far, this is a single statement only, without any decisions taken.” G7 leaders agreed last ...

The euro sank to a two-decade low versus the dollar on Tuesday as another surge in natural gas prices reignited worries about the health of the euro zone economy and data showed euro zone business growth slowed sharply in June. The euro tumbled 0.9% against the dollar to $1.0325, its weakest since December 2002. Versus the Swiss franc, it dropped 0.7%to 0.9941 francs, its lowest since 2015. “It will continue to be very difficult for the euro to rally in any meaningful way with the energy picture worsening and risks ...

USD: Battered risk currencies could receive a reprieve Liquidity is returning to FX markets after Monday’s US public holiday. The US data calendar is pretty light today and the next big input will be tomorrow night’s release of the June FOMC minutes, where we will hear more about the rationale behind the 75bp hike. That is probably a dollar-positive event risk. Before then, FX markets have a little positive news to digest this morning. Reports out yesterday suggest that President Biden could be announcing the roll-back of some US tariffs ...

Star Bulk Carriers (SBLK) is a multinational shipping corporation providing transnational seaborne transportation services in the dry bulk industry. Star Bulk’s vessels carry large bulks, including iron ore, grain, and minerals. Additionally, they carry minor bulks, among others, such as fertilizers, bauxite, and steel and its by-products. The company runs a fleet of 128 vessels, boasting an aggregate capacity of 14.1 million dwt (deadweight tonnage), including 17 Newcastlemax, seven Post Panamax, 22 Capesize, 41 Kamsarmax, two Panamax, two Mini Capesize, 20 Ultramax, and 17 Supramax vessels. Their holding capacities range ...

PhillipCapital Research has taken a liking to Uni-Asia Group, which expanded into ship and property investments in 2010, thanks to record earnings from surging charter rates. Analysts from PhillipCapital have initiated coverage on Uni-Asia with a “buy” recommendation and target price of $1.26, pegged to 3x price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) for FY2022. This would give the stock a 21.15% upside from its $1.04 closing. “We believe the tight supply of dry bulkers will keep freight rates elevated for longer. Orders for dry bulkers are at a record low, as a percentage ...

Hong Kong remains resilient as a world shipping center buoyed by the strong support of companies and capital from the mainland, even though global trade continues to be shadowed by logistic snags, inflation and the epidemic, Gary Lau, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics, told the Global Times. In an interview ahead of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, Lau said that while the political events in recent years have caused many doubts about Hong Kong, confidence in the city’s future ...

China’s rail cargo volume, a key indicator of economic activities, rose 5.5 percent year on year in the first half of 2022, said the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (China Railway) on Saturday. A total of 1.95 billion tonnes of cargo was transported through China’s railways during this period, 102 million tonnes more than that in the same period last year, according to the company. Coal used for power generation carried via railways totaled 690 million tonnes, up 9.1 percent year on year. During the first half of the ...

Iraq exported 101.19 million barrels of crude oil in June, bringing in revenues worth 11.5 billion U.S. dollars, said the Iraqi Oil Ministry on Friday. The average price for crude oil in June was 113.7 dollars per barrel, according to a ministry statement, citing statistics from the State Organization for Marketing of Oil. A total of 97.98 million barrels were exported from oil fields in central and southern Iraq via the Port of Basra, while about 2.91 million barrels from the northern province of Kirkuk via the Turkish port of ...

Australia’s mining and energy export revenues are forecast to climb 3% to a record A$419 billion ($286 billion) in the year to June 2023, buoyed by surging coal and gas prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the government said on Monday. Sanctions on Russia for what Moscow calls a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine have sent prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal to all-time highs, underpinning record revenue for Australia’s second- and third-largest exports. “The outlook is for the prices of energy commodities to ...

The European Union could buy several million tonnes of Ukrainian grain and channel it to vulnerable countries as food aid, the head of French industry group Intercereales said. Russia’s invasion has disrupted Ukraine’s massive agricultural exports, raising the risk of a global food crisis. Diplomats have been trying to negotiate a sea corridor from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, while also looking at how to develop alternative export routes before Ukraine’s new harvest arrives. In France, the government has been in talks with industry representatives including Intercereales to propose solutions. President ...