Dalian iron ore futures surged to a record peak on Friday and posted their biggest weekly gain since February, buoyed by expectations of sustained tightness in supply and brisk demand amid China’s renewed drive to support its slowing economy. The most-actively traded September iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose as much as 4% to 797.5 yuan ($115.20) a tonne, the highest since Dalian iron ore futures started trading in 2013. It ended the session 2.2% higher at 783.5 yuan, posting a weekly gain of 11.4%. It has ...

Brazil’s Vale which needs court approval to resume production at its Brucutu mine after a deadly dam collapse, told analysts it expects to do so soon, analysts at brokerage XP said on Thursday after meeting with the miner’s top executives. They said Vale executives were also optimistic that they could partially recover output at several other mines in the second half. The company was forced to suspend about 90 million tons per year of iron ore capacity after the collapse of a tailings dam in the mining town of Brumadinho ...

The contraction in mining production deepened slightly in April to 1.5% year-on-year following March’s 0.7% year-on-year decline, Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) said on Thursday. But this was markedly less severe than February’s reading which saw production levels plunge by 8.1 percent compared to the same period last year. The performance of the gold sector continued to plague overall mining industry production as gold was the largest negative contributor at 19.5%, underpinned in part by a five-month strike at the gold operations of Sibanye-Stillwater, which ended mid-April. Lara Hodes, Investec Bank ...

Dry weather will persist across Australia until at least the end of September, the country’s weather bureau said, in a forecast that threatens to further lower wheat production in the world’s No. 4 exporter. There is just a 30% chance that Australia will record average rainfall between July 1 and Sep 30, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said. Temperatures will also be above average over the three-month period, BOM said, pegging the chance of exceeding average maximum heat levels at 80%. The forecast is bad news for Australian wheat growers ...

Chicago corn futures rose to a four-year high on Friday and were poised to finish the week with a gain of almost 7% as more rains in parts of the U.S. Midwest threaten to stall planting. Wheat prices slid after jumping to a six-month high, while soybeans were little changed, having risen for the last four sessions. The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade climbed to its highest since July 2015 at $4.45-1/4, extending gains into a fourth session. Corn was up 6.6% for the week after ...

China, not the U.S., has most to lose if Beijing imposes a ban on the export of rare earths, a family of elements with special military and industrial uses. Because China accounts for 85% of global rare earth production the material has emerged as a potential weapon in the trade war being waged against the U.S. In theory, China could harm U.S. industry by banning sales of elements such as neodymium and praseodymium used to make high-strength permanent magnets found in every electric motor, including those in renewable energy wind ...

A top U.S. commodities regulator said on Wednesday climate change poses a major market risk and urged federal government action to address it, putting him at odds with the Trump administration which has often dismissed the issue. Rostin Behnam, one of five commissioners of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, made the comments at a public meeting focused on financial risks. He said he will form a special committee tasked with writing a report later this year examining the threats and proposing action. “The impacts of climate change affect every aspect ...

China’s iron ore resumed rally during the last few minutes of trading on Thursday to set a fresh record, still buoyed by expectations that supply will remain tight and demand could pick up. Bucking the downtrend in the ferrous complex, the most-actively traded September 2019 iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose as much as 1.6% to 782 yuan ($113.01) a tonne, before closing at 781.5 yuan. It fell 1.5% earlier in the session as market participants locked in gains after the steelmaking feedstock’s surge to record highs ...

Rapidly rising nickel supplies and slowing demand from stainless steel mills are weighing on prices of the metal, which are likely to come under further pressure this year as deficits disappear. Reasons behind weaker demand from the stainless sector, which accounts for 70 percent of global nickel consumption estimated at 2.4 million tonnes this year, include overstocking of stainless steel by producers earlier in 2019. Also a major influence is the trade dispute between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, and its potential to disrupt growth ...

After drawing a blank in mineral e-auctions in the last fiscal, Odisha has readied 40 blocks for auction in 2019-20. The blocks to be offered for auctions are a mix of virgin deposits and leases, owned by private miners, which are set to expire by March 31, 2020. “Among the virgin blocks, we have lined up resources of iron ore, manganese, limestone and chromite. A high level panel of the state government will meet by the end of this month to decide on the modalities and time frame of auctions”, ...

The head of Iraq’s state grain board said on Thursday the country had enough wheat and rice to last until the end of 2019. Naeem al-Maksousi said local wheat purchases could reach 4 million tonnes by the end of the season in August and imports from the beginning of the year amounted to 400,000 tonnes, which would be enough for consumption until the end of the year. He told Reuters this would “be enough until the end of the year”. “We will continue to purchase globally though for our reserves,” ...

State-owned SCCL produced 11.37 million tonne of coal during April-May, registering an increase of 18.4 per cent compared to the year-ago period. The company produced 9.60 MT coal in April-May 2018-19, according to the latest figures of Singareni Collieries Co Ltd (SCCL). In April 2019, the company produced 5.50 MT of coal, a rise of 21.9 per cent from the year-ago month. In May, the output was 5.87 MT, up 15.3 per cent from the same month last fiscal. SCCL is a government coal mining company jointly owned by the ...

Australia has approved Adani Group’s controversial coal project that opens up a new mining region and puts the world’s biggest exporter further at odds with the global movement to phase out the fuel. The Carmichael mine, which has faced steady resistance by environmental groups since it was first proposed in 2010, cleared the final regulatory hurdle Thursday when Queensland state approved its groundwater management plan. The decision means Adani can begin work on the first phase, which is expected to cost A$2 billion ($1.4 billion). The India-based developer also plans ...

IDX Insights, a research & development firm, announces the launch of its first of a series of tactical Commodity ETN indices utilizing the Barclays iPath Commodity ETNs. The IDX Tactical Long/Flat Commodity Index is designed to provide diversified exposure across the 7 iPath sector commodity ETNs with the ability to allocate 100% to a “cash-substitute” ETF. The index uses IDX’s proprietary “Composite Momentum” score to evaluate each sector ETN monthly to determine which sectors to include and at what weighting. The IDX Strategic Commodity Beta Index utilizes the collective momentum ...

Chicago corn rose 1.2% on Thursday to a one-week high, while soybeans gained for a fourth consecutive session as forecasts of more rains in the U.S. Midwest threatened to stall planting. Wheat jumped to its highest since early February with prices underpinned dry weather hurting recently planted crop in Australia, typically the world's fourth-largest exporter. The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 1.2% at $4.35-1/4 a bushel, as of 0149 GMT, near the session high of $4.36 a bushel - the highest since June 4. ...