Chinese iron ore futures fell for a third straight session on Wednesday, dragged lower by increasing seaborne arrivals at the country’s ports and higher shipments from big miners. The most-traded iron ore futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for January delivery, fell as much as 1.1% to 658 yuan ($92.80) per tonne in early trade. Arrivals of the steelmaking raw material in China totalled 24.1 million tonnes in the week of Sept.9-15, up by 6.3 million tonnes from a week earlier, data compiled by Mysteel consultancy showed. Shipments from ...

China’s benchmark power coal price remained flat during the past week. The Bohai-Rim Steam-Coal Price Index (BSPI), a gauge of coal prices in north China’s major ports, stood at 578 yuan (about 81.2 U.S. dollars) per tonne Wednesday, according to Qinhuangdao Ocean Shipping Coal Trading Market Co. Ltd. Analysts said that affected by the tightening supply of coastal coal market, some traders are reluctant to sell, resulting in a high level of bullish market sentiment. Meanwhile, due to the rising temperature in south China, the daily consumption of coastal power ...

Dubai’s DSA Investments has teamed up with two South African companies to bid for coal assets that Glencore Plc was pressured into selling to a company controlled by the politically connected Gupta family in 2015. Orchid Mining, a unit of DSA, owns 49% of the venture making the bid and the balance is held by the Smada Group and Nehawu Investment Holdings, which invests funds on behalf of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union. “I see the opportunity in the coal industry,” said Yusuf Adams, the founder of ...

Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co Ltd, Japan’s top electric-arc furnace steelmaker, will cut all steel product prices in October by about 2-4% to reflect sluggish overseas markets hit by prolonged U.S.-Sino trade row, it said. * This is the first such cut in three months. * For October, prices for steel bars, including rebar, will be lowered by 2,000 yen, or 3.1%, to 62,000 yen ($573) a tonne while prices for its mainstay H-beams will be also trimmed by 2,000 yen, or 2.4%, to 83,000 yen a tonne. Prices of U-shaped ...

Growth in domestic steel consumption is expected to slow down to 5-6% in FY2020 from 7.9% in FY2019, according to credit ratings agency ICRA. The agency has attributed the fall in demand growth to an unprecedented slowdown in economic activity, with GDP growth tapering down to 5% in the first quarter of the current fiscal. ICRA said there will be significant pressure on profit margins of steel companies in the September quarter due to a sharp fall in steel prices and firm raw material costs. The demand environment is expected ...

Australian coal producer New Hope Corp Ltd said coal markets would likely remain volatile in the near term though demand is strong for high-quality thermal coal across Asia, as it posted a 41% rise in annual net profit. The firm also forecast lower production volume from operations in Queensland state in the year through July due to delayed approvals for its Acland Stage 3 project and the pending closure of its Jeebropilly mine. It said it has begun the redundancy process for 150 employees due to the delay. Higher production ...

Grain producer AgroGeneration on Tuesday said its soft wheat harvest in Ukraine would reach 116,448 tonnes this year, up from 104,261 tonnes in 2018 at comparable perimeter. However, despite a rise on 2018, wheat yields did not meet the group’s target yield target what is a pivotal crop for the group’s performance, Agrogeneration said. In the first half of 2019, the Group sold approximately 37,700 hectares of land for a total amount of approximately 25 million euros ($28 million). Overall grain output would be at 126,986 tonnes, compared to 119,473 ...

JSW Steel has cut its capital expenditure plans in the US by 60 per cent to $400 million due to weak demand and a slowing economy. However, the company has decided to go ahead with its ₹15,000-crore capex plan in India despite the sharp drop in demand amid liquidity concerns. Last year, the company had plans to invest $500 million each in two of its steel plants at Baytown in Texas and Ohio to enhance capacity and improve operational efficiency. Seshagiri Rao, Joint Managing Director, JSW Steel, told BusinessLine that ...

The Ministry of Mines has allowed Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) to offload, in a year, up to a quantity equivalent to maximum of 25 per cent of total iron ore production in the previous year. This is subject to clearance from the respective State governments where the mines are located, a statement said. It is valid for a period of two years. This development implies that around 7 million tonnes of iron ore, produced at mines in Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, can be offloaded by SAIL to the ...

India plans to invite bids from global firms for the first time for coal mining blocks before end-2019, sources familiar with the matter said, a move that would end Coal India Ltd’s near-monopoly for the fuel as the nation tries to cut imports. Coal is among the top five commodities imported by India, one of the world’s largest consumers of the fuel. Coal imports are surging after the government failed to open the industry to competition, despite having passed a liberalization policy 19 months ago. The coal block auctions are ...

Recent and expected warm temperatures are seen helping late-planted U.S. corn and soybeans move toward maturity and avoid early frost, but the Crop Watch producers are not any more optimistic about yields as a result. The growers still have concerns about light test weights in the corn and low pod counts in the soybeans, along with reduced pod fill in the last couple weeks. Crop Watch 2019 follows one corn and one soybean field in eight major U.S. Corn Belt states, reporting on weekly progress as of Sunday. The fields ...

Chicago corn futures edged higher on Wednesday, recouping some of the previous session's losses on bargain buying although gains were curbed by expectations for crop-friendly weather across the U.S. Midwest. Wheat gained ground, while soybeans were largely unchanged. The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade was up 0.3% at $3.69 a bushel, as of 0411 GMT, having closed down 1.6% on Tuesday. Wheat firmed 0.4% to $4.86 a bushel, having closed 0.9% lower in the previous session and soybeans were up 0.03% at $8.94 a bushel, having ...

The European physical thermal coal market showed little reaction to attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq processing facility and Khurais oil field, despite surging crude oil prices, market sources said. Crude futures jumped by over 15% Monday morning, before retreating to trade around 8%-9% higher by noon London time. CIF ARA thermal coal futures were somewhat more responsive than physical prices to the events, but still suggested a muted response to the loss of half of Saudi Arabia’s crude production Saturday. The year-ahead Cal-20 contract opened at $70/mt on the Intercontinental ...

Is it time to challenge the conventional wisdom in iron ore and steel markets that poor Chinese economic data is actually good news because it means Beijing will ramp up stimulus spending, thereby boosting demand? The current thinking of ‘bad data equals good news’ was on display this week, with steel prices rallying after economic news showed a deepening slowdown in China’s factory and consumer sectors. Benchmark Shanghai steel rebar futures gained as much as 2.1% in Monday’s trade to 3,575 yuan ($505.71) a tonne, the highest in six weeks, ...

Atlantic basin coal prices will likely extend near two-month highs this week as the still oversupplied market takes its cue from oil, gas and nuclear developments, participants said. The front-quarter API 2 contract was last in the USD 64.90-66.40/t bid-offer range – up from Friday’s close at USD 63.72/t – while the Cal 20 was USD 1.52 higher at USD 69.95/t, on Ice Futures. The latter contract earlier reached its highest since 24 July, of USD 70.25/t. “It’s because of oil,” said a coal analyst with a European utility, regarding ...