India’s soybean production may decline sharply in the marketing year 2021-22 (October-September) as erratic rainfall during the sowing season affected yields, according to a survey by S&P Global Platts. A poor soybean crop could increase India’s reliance on edible oil imports and endanger its exports of soybean meal in the coming months, analysts said. India’s soybean production in MY 2021-22 is expected to be around 10.8 million mt, nearly 16.6% lower on the year, an average estimate of 13 analysts and traders showed. India harvested 12.9 million mt of soybean ...

Speculators only lightly trimmed their bullish Chicago corn and soybean bets last week despite a larger U.S. crop outlook from the government, though the harvest season can be a seasonally weak time for futures, especially in years when a decent crop is expected. U.S. corn and soy supplies are still predicted to be much tighter than usual over the next year, but healthy export predictions might be too aggressive given storm damage to export terminals and solid crop expectations out of competitor suppliers. In the week ended Sept. 14, money ...

As reported by the IME’s International Affairs and Public Relations Department, there was 1,372,000 tons of commodities sold on the IME’s metals and minerals trading floor valued at more than $142 million. Commodities sold on this floor included 1,023,000 tons of cement, 65,412 tons of steel, 6,520 tons of copper, 4,225 tons of aluminum, 180 tons of molybdenum concentrate, 21 tons of precious metals concentrate, 14,500 tons of zinc dust, 2 kg of gold bars, 12,000 tons of sponge iron and 250,000 tons of iron ore. Furthermore, the exchange saw ...

Malaysian palm oil futures fell more than 2% on Monday, hitting an 18-day low, as a higher export duty and a slowdown in September shipments so far weighed on sentiment. The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for December delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange tumbled 5.37% at the opening bell, but swiftly pared losses. It closed lower 94 ringgit, or 2.21%, to 4,167 ringgit ($994.51) a tonne, down for a second straight session. Palm oil prices have been correcting since last week after the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) ...

Copper prices fell on Monday to one-month lows as the prospect of a debt default at China property developer Evergrande Group fuelled a sell-off across financial markets and investors headed for the safe haven dollar. Benchmark copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange was down 2.5% at $9,079 a tonne at 1115 GMT. Prices of the metal used widely in the power and construction industries earlier touched $9,052.50 a tonne, the lowest since Aug. 20. “Copper prices are falling in sympathy with risk-off trading and weak sentiment because of Evergrande,” ...

Just as iron ore’s surge to a record high in May was an overblown rally, its plunge last week was a disorderly retreat, with neither move fully justified by the fundamentals of supply and demand. The price of spot iron ore for delivery to north China MTIOQIN62=ARG, as assessed by commodity price reporting agency Argus, slumped 22.2% from the previous week to end at $100.45 a tonne on Sept. 17. The steel-making ingredient has now fallen 57.4% from the record high of $235.55 a tonne, reached on May 12. While ...

China’s raw coal output rose 0.8 percent year on year to 340 million tonnes last month, official data showed. The growth rate returned to the positive territory, following a 3.3 percent year-on-year drop registered in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The August output represented a 0.7 percent increase compared with the same period in 2019, the NBS said. In the first eight months, China produced 2.6 billion tonnes of raw coal, up 4.4 percent year on year. China’s coal imports surged 35.8 percent year on year to ...

Russian wheat export prices rose for the 10th consecutive week last week following higher global benchmarks in Chicago and Paris, analysts said on Monday. Russian wheat with 12.5% protein loading from Black Sea ports for supply in early October was $301 a tonne, free on board (FOB), at the end of last week, up $1 from the previous week, the IKAR agriculture consultancy said in a note. Sovecon, another consultancy, pegged wheat as having risen $1.50 to $304.5 a tonne, while barley was steady at $260 a tonne. The wheat ...

Indonesia is establishing a holding company for state-controlled sugar mills and aims to cut imports and increase production of white sugar to 1.8 million tonnes by 2024, the chief executive of the state plantation company said on Monday. Sugar mills under the state plantation group PT Perkebunan Nusantara 3 (PTPN 3) are estimated to produce 800,000 tonnes of white sugar this year, and by 2030, production is targeted to be expanded to 2.6 million tonnes, chief executive Mohammad Abdul Gani told parliament members. “By increasing production, we can reduce imports, ...

Russian officials expect new taxes on producers of steel, coal and iron ore to add an additional 130 billion roubles ($1.8 billion) to the state budget in 2022, four sources familiar with the ongoing discussions told Reuters. Moscow is considering imposing a mineral extraction tax (MET) linked to global prices on producers of ferrous metals and fertilisers, as well as on ore mined by Nornickel, sources said last week. The new tax is expected to raise an additional 10 billion roubles from fertiliser producers, three of the sources said. For ...

Australian junior miner Venture Minerals VMS.AX has temporarily suspended operations at its controversial Riley iron ore mine in northwestern Tasmania after just a single shipment, the company said on Friday, hit by a plunge in prices. The project’s location in the wilderness of Australia’s southernmost island drew the ire of green activists, who have held multiple protests there since March, as the Bob Brown Foundation calls for World Heritage listing of the area. Its sole shipment of 45,632 tonnes was bound for China through off-take partner, Prosperity Steel United Singapore ...

Momentum in the clean energy transition is rising worldwide despite the continuing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, an International Energy Agency analyst told the mining-focused MINEX Kazakhstan Forum. This is because “the countries and companies that have announced pledges to reduce their GHG emissions to net-zero by the midcentury account for as much as 70% of the global GDP and emissions,” IEA analyst Tae-Yoon Kim told the forum Sept. 15. Still, turning these pledges into action implies a massive acceleration in clean energy deployment; yet a clean energy system needs ...

Russian agriculture consultancy IKAR said it had cut its forecast for Russia’s 2021 wheat crop to 74-75 million tonnes due to lower production in several regions. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of wheat, supplying it to Africa and the Middle East. Its farmers are harvesting the 2021 crop with lower yields than a year ago due to dry weather. “The reasons are clear: smaller crop in the Central, Volga and Urals regions. However, high level of uncertainty still remains,” Dmitry Rylko, the head of IKAR, said in a note. ...

European and Turkish steel mills raised concerns this week over record-high electricity and gas costs across Europe, as customers hoped for softened steel prices as the scrap market weakened. S&P Global Platts’ assessment for Southern European shredded scrap was at Eur432.50/mt delivered for September contracts, down sharply from Eur480/mt for August. In Northern Europe, Platts’ September assessment for domestic shredded scrap was at Eur397.50/mt delivered, down from Eur440/mt in August. One Spanish mill source noted that customers are hoping for long steel prices to come down, as scrap levels have ...

Copper prices in London fell on Monday partly in response to a stronger dollar, while the market was also unsettled by a debt crisis at troubled property developer China Evergrande Group. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 fell as much as 2.4% to $9,092 a tonne, its lowest since Aug. 23, before edging higher to trade at $9,113.50 a tonne by 0644 GMT, still down 2.1%. The dollar rallied to a one month-high in Asia as the problems at Evergrande Group 3333.HK plus an upcoming U.S. Federal Reserve ...