One of the standout commodity stories so far this year has been China’s demand for thermal coal, with the world’s largest importer seeing record shipments arriving in the first half. China’s imports of thermal coal from the seaborne market, used mainly to generate electricity, were 168.73 million metric tons in the first six months of the year, up 8.5% from 155.51 million in the same period in 2023, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler. This was the strongest first half in China’s history and puts the world’s second-biggest ...

US diesel export loadings to Europe have surged to record highs in July as the trade arbitrage for US diesel to move from the Gulf Coast to Europe remained robust, freight rates have eased and Saudi exports fell sharply. Loadings of US diesel bound for Europe have risen by more than half so far this month to 517,000 b/d, up from 330,000 b/d in June, marking the highest level since July 2018, according to ship tracking data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea. Europe has become increasingly reliant on the ...

Crude and condensate exports from the US to Northwest Europe are on track to hit a record high in July, according to data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea, on improving arbitrage economics, high US production and strong European refinery runs. Total crude flows on the trade route have reached 1.6 million b/d so far in July, up from 1 million b/d in June and matching the previous record highs in December, January and February, CAS data shows. Brief port closures in Texas were reported in June due to a ...

China’s Shandong provincial government could allow independent refineries in the region to share Yulong Petrochemical’s crude oil quota for 2024, as the commissioning of its new 400,000 b/d refinery has been delayed, local refiners told S&P Global Commodity Insights on July 26. If approved, this will be the first official arrangement for quota transfers among the refineries and help the Shandong independent refining sector meet its annual import target for the year. “Provincial government officials called us to check if we need more crude import quotas,” said an independent refinery ...

Dalian iron ore futures snapped a three-session slide on Friday buoyed by fresh stimulus from top consumer China, but posted a weekly loss amid concerns about demand from the ailing property sector. The most-traded September iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trade 1.5% higher at 779 yuan ($107.45) a metric ton. The contract was down 2.75% on a weekly basis. The benchmark August iron ore SZZFQ4 on the Singapore Exchange was 1.94% higher at $101.85 a ton, as of 0715 GMT. It has fallen 4.41% ...

Coal-fired power plants generated 59.6% of China’s total electricity output during the opening half of 2024, the first time on record that coal produced less than 60% of the country’s total electricity during that period. China’s coal-fired generation from January to June was 2,793.5 terawatt hours (TWh), which was up 2.4% from the same months in 2023 and the highest tally for the opening half of the year since at least 2015, data from energy think tank Ember shows. However, coal’s share of China’s total generation mix declined to new ...

In the first half of 2024, Croatia significantly increased its crude oil imports from Azerbaijan, purchasing a total of 587,600 tons worth $375.98 million, Azernews reports. This represents a substantial 90% increase in quantity and a 109% increase in value compared to the same period in 2023. Last year, Croatia imported 308,500 tons of crude oil from Azerbaijan, with a value of $180.25 million. This year, prices have risen, with the cost per ton climbing from $584 (approximately $77 per barrel) in 2023 to $640 (about $84 per barrel) in ...

India’s Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has issued an expression of interest to sell around 240,000 metric tons (1.89 million barrels) of jet fuel term supplies starting September, three sources said on Friday. The state-owned refiner is looking to sell at least one 40,000-60,000 ton cargo per month from September to February, the sources said, adding that the buyer would have to offload the cargo between the 1st and 28th of each month. Interested buyers would have to submit their proposals by July 31. The company did not immediately ...

Some farmers in Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa and the central region of Dnipro have started harvesting the sunflower crop much earlier than usual, analyst ASAP Agri said. Last year the first report on sunflower seed harvesting was published in late August, the consultancy said on Thursday. Ukrainian producers, analysts and forecasters have said that anabnormal heat nationwide in July could cause a drop of 25% to 35% in the yield from late crops. Ukraine is a major global grower of sunseed and exporter of sunoil, harvesting almost 12 million ...

Indonesian copper miner PT Amman Mineral Internasional AMMN.JK said on Friday its concentrate production in January to June period rose 90% annually to 444,143 dry metric (dmt), while concentrate sales rose 145% to 337,929 dmt in the same period. The company said its full year guidance will remain unchanged after the government granted it a copper concentrate export permit until December. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by John Mair)

Ukraine had harvested around 20 million metric tons of grains as of July 25, the farm ministry said on Friday. Farmers had threshed 14.7 million tons of wheat from 3.5 million hectares and with an average yield of 4.2 tons per hectare, the ministry said. They also harvested 3.87 million tons of barley with a yield of 3.79 tons per hectare and 416,300 tons of peas with a yield of 2.19 tons per hectare. The ministry said 3.08 million tons of rapeseed had also been threshed. Last month the ministry ...

Ratings of French soft wheat fell again last week to hit another eight-year low with now only half of the crop in good condition, while harvesting remained well behind average as wet weather throughout the cycle continued to weigh on crops. An estimated 50% of soft wheat was in good or excellent condition by July 22, down from 52% a week earlier and 78% a year ago, farm office FranceAgriMer said in a cereal report. This is below the score at the same point in 2020, another year marked by ...

Chicago soybean and corn prices fell on Friday but were set for weekly gains of around 4% with welcome rain forecast for parched U.S. crop belts. Wheat rose, but was still down around 1% on the week, with traders weighing positive reports on U.S. crops and cheap prices offered by Black Sea exporters against rain delaying and damaging west EU harvests. Chicago Board of Trade most-active soybeans Sv1 were down 0.4% to $10.74-1/4 per bushel at 1038 GMT. Corn Cv1 was down 0.3% to $4.19-1/2 a bushel while wheat Wv1 ...

Malaysian palm oil futures on Friday gained someground lost this week and snapped a three-session decline onrobust exports data, while also tracking a rise in other oils. The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange climbed 23 ringgit, or0.59%,to 3,941 ringgit ($846.62) a metric ton. However, the contract logged a 0.5% weekly decline. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for July 1-25 rose 31% year on year, cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Amspec Agri said on Thursday. Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de ...

Copper prices were on track for a third consecutive weekly decline on Friday on concerns that a return of physical buying could be short-lived in top consumer China as the economy remains sluggish in the absence of significant stimulus. Three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.1% at $9,133 a metric ton during official rings. It was down 2.1% for the week. More Chinese copper consumers returned to the market after a tepid two months, attracted by prices that had retreated by 17.8% from their record ...