Jordan’s state grain buyer has issued an international tender to buy 120,000 tonnes of milling wheat which can be sourced from optional origins, European traders said on Wednesday. The deadline for submission of price offers in the tender is Aug. 16. A new announcement had been expected after Jordan made no purchase in its previous tender for 120,000 tonnes of wheat on Tuesday. Shipment in the new tender is sought in a series of possible combinations in 60,000 tonne consignments in the same periods as Tuesday’s tender. Possible shipment combinations ...

Russia has banned imports of agriculture products from 31 of 34 regions of Moldova starting from Aug. 15, its agriculture safety watchdog said on Tuesday. Russia has a history of using bans on food imports in trade disputes with other countries. Moldova buys natural gas from Russia and asked Russian gas giant Gazprom earlier in August if it could delay its payment for this month. The watchdog had to impose the restrictions “due to repeated detection of dangerous quarantine objects in Moldovan products entering Russia”, it added in a statement. ...

Ukraine’s grain, oilseed, vegetable oil exports rose 22.7% in July versus June to 2.66 million tonnes thanks to higher wheat and barley shipments, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday. Ukraine’s grain exports have slumped since the start of the war because its Black Sea ports – a key route for shipments – were closed off, driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East. An agreement was concluded last month to unblock Ukrainian seaports and allow the departure of ships carrying grain. July’s ...

Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA diverted two crude cargoes set to discharge at Cuba’s Matanzas terminal, Refinitiv Eikon data and company documents showed on Tuesday, as a fire that devastated 40% of the island’s main storage facility continued for a fifth day. Lightning on Friday set one crude storage tank at the 2.4-million-barrel facility ablaze, later spreading to three others, resulting in massive power outages. As most of Venezuela’s oil shipments to Cuba typically go to Matanzas – a key facility for distributing domestic crude and for receiving imports – ...

Russia is becoming increasingly reliant on just two countries when it comes to selling its crude oil, with China and India now accounting for more than 40% of export volumes. The world’s biggest and third-largest crude importers accounted for 1.85 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russia’s total exports of 4.47 million bpd in July, according to data from commodity analysts Kpler. This gives the two Asian giants a share of 41.4% of Russia’s total crude shipments in July, which is almost double the 21.7% India and China had in ...

The creation of China’s new state-owned iron ore giant — built to consolidate the nation’s mining investments and coordinate purchases of the key steelmaking input — is being felt everywhere from Simandou to Sydney. The idea is that China Mineral Resources Group, founded on July 19 with registered capital of 20 billion yuan ($3 billion), will centralize purchasing for state-owned steel-makers and traders to create a unified front in negotiations with foreign suppliers. It will also house overseas mining assets. The move is underpinned by China’s Iron Ore “Foundation Plan,” ...

Germany’s hard coal importers expect more shipments from next month when generators will seek to switch to more coal burning and away from Russian gas, but fear logistics problems could hamper deliveries. “Verein der Kohlenimporteure (VDKi) expects significant volumes increases in the monthly import figures from September onwards,” Alexander Bethe, the chairman of the German coal importers’ group, said in reply to an enquiry by Reuters. September could bring a 50% rise over May, Bethe said, when imports had been 2.35 million tonnes. Monthly coal receipts recorded last winter by ...

Importers in the Philippines are tendering to purchase a total of around 120,000 tonnes of wheat and about 120,000 tonnes of animal feed barley, European traders said on Tuesday. The deadline for submissions of price offers in the tender is Wednesday, Aug. 10. The tender seeks a series of consignments for shipment between October 2022 and January 2023. The group had rejected all offers and made no purchase in a tender for wheat and barley last week. GRA/TEND Source: Reuters (Reporting by Michael Hogan)

Russia’s natural gas exports by pipeline to the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) declined by almost 40% during the first seven months of 2022 compared with the same period in 2021 and by almost 50% compared with the previous five-year (2017–21) average, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon. In mid-July 2022, exports declined to 1.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), the lowest level in nearly 40 years. Between 2016 and 2020, Russia had accounted for about one-third of the EU’s and the UK’s supply of natural ...

Russia suspended oil exports via the southern leg of the Druzhba pipeline from early August due to issues relating to transit fees, two sources familiar with the operations said on Tuesday. According to the sources, the payment from Russia’s pipeline monopoly Transneft TRNF_p.MM to Ukraine’s pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta did not go through. Transneft confirmed the suspension of oil flows from Russia via the southern leg of the Druzhba pipeline, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Louise Heavens)

Argentina said Aug. 8 it has authorized Cammesa, operator of the wholesale power network, to increase the amount of diesel supplies it can import under a tax-free scheme this year to 25.2 million barrels from 15.7 million barrels as diesel demand for electricity generation grows faster than previously expected. The increase in the importable amount is designed to meet “peaks in demand” for diesel as a power fuel that can’t be met with local supplies of diesel or natural gas, the government said in a presidential decree. This is the ...

Steelmakers in the country expect some relief soon as the government is likely to roll back export duty on some steel products, if not all. Senior industry executives told Moneycontrol that the government is likely to withdraw the export duty on steel in phases. The government is believed to be considering rolling back export duty on flat products first, while the export duty on building construction steel like Rebars, wire roads, and roofing sheets would continue. Flat steel products include the likes of the hot rolled coil (HRC), cold rolled ...

Brazil’s plan to boost internal fertilizer supplies cannot succeed without infrastructure investments, a government official told Reuters on Monday after a strong importing season exposed domestic logistical woes. Brazil announced its plan in April to reduce reliance on imports after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. But after buying record volumes of fertilizer in the first seven months of the year, the state of certain Brazilian ports was almost a revelation to the government. “We discovered that the problem was not in shipping schedules, nor was it related to port ...

The Asia-Pacific gas market has suffered another blow after major natural gas producer Australia signaled it could potentially cut down liquified natural gas exports as the region battles tight gas supplies, high prices and competition from gas-short European buyers. Australia is looking to trim its overseas sales in favor of domestic consumption ahead of a projected shortfall in local supplies next year As energy protectionism takes hold globally, last week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission called on Canberra to protect domestic gas supplies and curb LNG — cooled natural ...

A tanker of U.S. sour crude was delivered at Germany’s port of Rostock last week for the first time ever, according to sources, analysts and vessel tracking data, as local refiners test alternatives to Russian oil. The European Union plans an almost-complete embargo of Russian barrels by year-end, and is trying to wean itself off Russian crude imports, which have fed inland refineries in Germany, Poland and other central European nations via pipeline. Refiners plan to replace Russian oil with seaborne Norwegian, Saudi Arabian, British and U.S. crude grades. Russia ...