The US Department of Agriculture Aug. 12 lowered its forecast for 2020-21 global milled rice production by 2.1 million mt to 500 million mt. In its latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, the USDA attributed the cut to reduced output prospects in China, Thailand and Vietnam. Despite the lower forecast, this would still be a record high. While the forecast for global consumption has also been cut due to lower consumption forecasts for China, Brazil and Nigeria, it is still forecast at a record high 497 million mt. ...

BHP Group said on Friday it will closely monitor the work of industry associations to ensure they match its climate position on keeping the world’s warming to well less than 2 degrees Celsius. The world’s largest listed miner has faced increasing pressure from investors worried that some mineral lobby groups, particularly in Australia, are promoting coal use in contravention of the goals of the Paris climate pact, and have urged BHP to stop funding them. BHP said it would instead work with industry associations to outline its priorities and approach ...

Today, ArcelorMittal announced its intention to build an Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel making facility at AM/NS Calvert. Once completed the planned facility will be capable of producing 1.5Mt of steel slabs for the Hot Strip Mill and producing a broad spectrum of steel grades required for Calvert’s end user markets. Construction is expected to take 24 months and the new facility is anticipated to create 300 additional jobs in the community. Commenting, Mr. Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal said: “An electric arc furnace at Calvert makes strategic ...

Chicago corn rose to its highest in more than two weeks on Thursday, while soybeans climbed to a one-week high as brisk export demand and worries over storm damage in the Midwest countered pressure from big official harvest forecasts. Wheat was little changed, holding near a one-month low, as ample global supplies hung over the market. In widely followed monthly forecasts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Wednesday U.S. farmers would reap a record corn harvest and a second-biggest soybean crop, buoyed by favourable weather. However, selling pressure ...

Thailand’s strong start towards a low-carbon future would quicken with carbon pricing Thailand relies heavily on fossil fuels for its energy needs, but is showing promising signs of decreasing energy and CO2 emission intensity. With an ambitious GHG emission reduction target in its commitments under the Paris Agreement, Thailand has started shifting the focus of its energy policy to energy efficiency and the clean energy transition. Putting a price on carbon would greatly accelerate its progress towards the target, and in a cost-effective way. While Thailand has some experience of ...

Copper prices eased on Thursday as concerns over supply from South America receded and seasonally weak demand in top consumer China resurfaced. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 1% to $6,373.50 a tonne in official trading. COVID-19 supply disruptions in top producer Chile and flooding in China helped propel copper to a two-year high in July but miners in the South American nation were ramping back up while neighbouring Peru was also restarting production after lockdowns. “With supply concerns in Chile and Peru subsiding and the effects of ...

The US Department of Agriculture Aug. 12 raised its forecast for US 2020-21 (September-August) soybean production by 290 million bushels to 4.425 billion bushels due to higher yields. In its latest World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate report, the USDA said it had increased its first survey-based soybean yield forecast of 53.3 bushels an acre by 3.5 bushels from last month’s report, taking it 5.9 bushels higher year on year. Harvested area is forecast at 83.0 million acres, unchanged from the July projection. US soybean exports were raised 75 million ...

US coal carload originations ticked lower to 59,328 in the week that ended Aug. 8, down 0.2% from the 18-week high of 59,458 a week earlier, according to an Aug. 12 report from the Association of American Railroads. The latest week was also down 23.4% from the year-ago week and 35.2% lower than the five-year average. It was also the lowest total for the corresponding week in over 10 years. Coal carloads represented 11.9% of all the traffic on US railways, down from 12.2% a week earlier and 14.5% in ...

The gold spot price dropped nearly 6% day on day, its fifth sharpest one-day drop over the past two decades and its largest daily fall since the sell-off in 2013, analysts said Aug. 12. Analysts at precious metal refiner MKS PAMP said gold traded to a high of $1926/oz in early Asian hours before falling $50 to $1872/oz, with gold rebounding toward $1900/oz and then falling again to $1862/oz. “The $115/oz (5.7%) drop is the worst in over seven years,” Canaccord Genuity analysts said in a research note. “We view ...

thyssenkrupp’s performance in the first 9 months of the current fiscal year was significantly impacted by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result of temporary plant closures at customers, production in many areas came almost to a halt at the start of the 3rd quarter. The materials and components businesses dependent on the auto industry were particularly hard hit. Added to this were structural challenges in the steel business in an already difficult general market environment. Against this background order intake[1] in the first 9 months of the ...

From a demand perspective, Consol Energy Inc. CEO and President Jimmy Brock said the second quarter was the worst he has seen in a coal career that spans over four decades. The COVID-19 pandemic brought global economies to a grinding halt, causing unprecedented destruction in energy demand, Brock said on the company’s Aug. 10 earnings call. The Pennsylvania-based company was already dealing with weaker demand earlier in the year due to a warmer-than-usual winter. “There is no sugarcoating how difficult the second quarter of 2020 was from a demand perspective,” ...

Egypt’s state import agency launched a tender late Monday to buy an unspecified amount of wheat for shipment between Sept. 25 and Oct. 5. The agency, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, was offering to pay for the grain using letters of credit that would guarantee payment within 180 days, according to traders. At a wheat tender last week, GASC bought 295,000 metric tons of Russian wheat and 115,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat, with the cheapest cargo costing $212.10 per ton with an extra $13.55 per ton to cover freight ...

There are approximately 800,000 indigenous peoples speaking distinct 274 languages in Brazil. Vale values such diversity and currently interacts with several indigenous communities (14 in Brazil and other communities in countries like Canada, Peru and New Caledonia). In Brazil, this work is done by a team of more than 20 professionals who are specialized and experienced in the subject, with support from indigenous and anthropology consulting firms. Most of these professionals live in regions close to indigenous lands, which facilitates permanent contact and dialogue with the communities. In addition, Vale ...

Chicago corn futures rose on Tuesday to a one-week high after the U.S. Department of Agriculture trimmed its rating of crop conditions, rekindling concern about dryness in parts of the Midwest. Wheat futures also edged higher, with a sharp cut to the USDA’s rating of spring wheat crops encouraging the market to steady after a one-month low on Monday. Soybeans, however, slipped after the USDA raised its score for developing U.S. soy crops. Price movements were modest as all crops consolidated following multi-week lows in the past few days and ...

Rapidly rising stainless steel production in top consumer China has helped to preserve demand and prices of key ingredient nickel, but analysts still expect a supply overhang of the metal valued for its anti-corrosive properties. Benchmark nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) are near their highest in more than seven months at around $14,300 a tonne and up more than 30% since touching a 14-month low of $10,865 in March. COVID-19 lockdowns and stalled manufacturing activity had led analysts to expect a large drop in production of stainless ...