Oil back above $90 in second half of 2024 The oil market is expected to be largely balanced over the first half of 2024 if Saudi Arabia extends its additional voluntary supply cut through until the end of the year’s first quarter. Doing so should ensure that Brent remains above US$80/bbl over the first half of the year. However, we do forecast a tighter market through the latter part of 2024 and, as a result, expect Brent to average a little over US$90/bbl in the second half of next year. ...

A global aluminium producer has offered Japanese buyers a premium of $95 per metric ton for January-March primary metal shipments, down 2% from the current quarter, three sources directly involved in quarterly pricing talks said. Japan is Asia’s biggest importer of the metal and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price CMAL0 set the benchmark for the region. The figure is lower than the$97 per ton PREM-ALUM-JP paid in October to December, which was down 24% from ...

Chicago soybean futures fell on Friday as the weather forecast in drought-stricken northern Brazil promised much-needed rain for producers who are dealing with the prospect of low yields and damaged crops. Corn and wheat both ended higher as traders continued to cover short positions in both markets. The most active soybean contract Sv1 settled down 17-3/4 cents to close at $13.25 per bushel, finishing the week 0.4% lower. Forecast showers and easing heat in northern Brazil could help crops next week in the world’s biggest soybean exporting nation. “It looks ...

Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures ended lower on Friday and down slightly for the week as investors eyed the prospect of much-needed rains in Brazil, where a drought has delayed plantings and stressed crops. Forecast showers and easing heat in northern Brazil could help crops next week in the world’s biggest soybean exporting nation. “Rain will become more widespread across Brazil over the next two weeks, which will begin to ease some of the dryness in northern growing areas,” Maxar Technologies said in a daily weather note. CBOT January ...

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures rose on Friday, with short-covering lifting the market more than 2% above its lows during the week. Actively traded March corn CH24 settled 2 cents higher at $4.84-3/4 a bushel. March corn finished up 0.4% for the week and 3% above the week’slow of $4.70-1/2 reached on Wednesday. May corn CK24 settled up 1-3/4 cents at $4.96-3/4 per bushel, finishing 2.8% higher than its week low reaching on Wednesday. Farm exports from Argentina, one of the top global corn exporters, brought in some $1 ...

Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rose on Friday, reaching the highest price since early November as the market finished its week-long ascent as traders covered short positions. CBOT March wheat finished up 4-3/4 cents at $6.02-3/4 per bushel, the highest closing price since Nov. 9. March wheat closed the week 4.4% higher thanits $5.77-1/4 close last Friday. K.C. March hard red winter wheat ended up 3-3/4 cents at $6.46-3/4 per bushel, a 5.8% increase for the week. MGEX March spring wheat MWEH24 ended up 3/4 cent at $7.30-1/4 a ...

The UK’s last opencast coalmine will close later as fears mount over whether the massive site will be restored. Documents seen by BBC News show concerns at the Welsh government and UK Coal Authority that Merthyr Tydfil’s Ffos-y-Fran mine may be abandoned. Estimated clean-up costs for the site – the size of 400 football pitches – have grown to between £120m and £175m. Site operator Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd said it was in “constructive dialogue” with Merthyr Tydfil council. Union Unite, which represents 115 workers being made redundant as coal ...

The U.S. soybean crush likely jumped to a record 6.033 million short tons in October, or 201.1 million bushels, while soyoil stocks thinned for a sixth straight month, according to analysts surveyed by Reuters ahead of a monthly U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report. The crush topped 200 million bushels for the first time ever as a recently expanded and still growing U.S. soy processing industry crushed greater volumes of newly harvested beans amid rising vegetable oil demand from biofuel makers. If the crush estimate, gathered from seven analysts, is ...

Peru’s mining output grew by 3.14% in October on copper, gold and zinc extraction, the government said on Friday, marking the slowest growth in the past eight months. In Peru, the world’s No. 2 copper exporter, production of the metal was up 2.1% from the same month a year ago, while gold and zinc jumped 10.0% and 10.4% respectively, said national statistics institute INEI. Mining production in Peru has been steadily recovering since road blockades, part of anti-government protests, paralyzed the nation’s largest miners at the beginning of the year. ...

Euronext wheat prices rose on Friday to a one-week high as a weaker dollar spurred further gains in Chicago and traders assessed signs of improving export demand in Europe. March wheat BL2H4 on Paris-based Euronext, settled 1.1% up at 228.75 euros ($248.86) per metric ton. It earlier touched a one-week high of 229.25 euros, as it moved further from Tuesday’s near two-year low of 221.25 euros, though it faced chart resistance near 230 euros. Chicago wheat Wv1 rose more sharply as the dollar fell after comments by Federal Reserve Chair ...

Malaysian palm oil futures posted a second weekly loss onFriday, underpinned by poor demand and weakness in Dalian vegetable oils. The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 24 ringgit, or 0.62%, to 3,871 ringgit ($828.73) at closing. The contract declined 0.49% this week. It recorded a 5.87% rise for November, reversing a two-month decline. Palm oil demand from biodiesel players continued to be virtually non-existent, said Paramalingam Supramaniam, director at Selangor-based brokerage Pelindung Bestari. “Market players expressed uncertainty regarding when margins ...

French cereal sowings had again made little progress last week while crop ratings extended their fall, farm office FranceAgriMer data showed on Friday, in a sign that heavy rainfall since last month has taken a toll on crops. Farmers had sown 82% of the expected soft wheat area for next year’s harvest in the European Union’s largest grower by Nov. 27, FranceAgriMer said in a crop report. That was up from 74% last week, but well behind the 99% sown by the same stage last year and a five-year average ...

Dalian iron ore futures were set for their first weekly loss in seven as Beijing continued to intervene in the market to regulate prices, though the contract gained on Friday due to upbeat factory data. The most-traded January iron ore on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange was up 2% at 975.5 yuan ($136.55) per metric ton at closing. This week, Dalian iron ore prices lost 0.12%. On the Singapore Exchange, the benchmark January iron ore was 0.9% higher at $129.58 a metric ton. The benchmark contract declined 2.1% this week, its ...

Ukraine, a major global grain producer, has harvested almost 77 million metric tons of grain and oilseeds from the new 2023 harvest so far, the agriculture ministry said on Friday. The ministry gave no comparative data. It said 56.3 million tons of grain and 20.7 million tons of oilseeds had been threshed. The harvest ends late this year, depending on the weather. The volume included 22.5 million tons of wheat, 5.9 million tons of barley, 399,500 tons of peas, 26.8 million tons of corn and smaller contributions from other cereals. ...

Miner Freeport-McMoRan FCX.N reached agreement on Friday with Chinese smelter Jiangxi Copper 600362.SS for 2024 copper concentrate treatment and refining charges at $80 a metric ton and 8 cents per pound, a source said. The agreed charges are the same as reached by Chilean miner Antofagasta ANTO.L and Chinese smelters earlier on Friday and so will be considered the benchmark charges for 2024 copper concentrate treatment and refining. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Susan Fenton)