Coal India Ltd COAL.NS, the world’s biggest miner, has temporarily stopped supplies to non-power users, a company official said, as India battles one of its worst power supply deficits in years. “It is a temporary prioritisation of supplies to power plants till stabilisation in stocks is restored,” the source, familiar with Coal India’s plan said. No immediate official comment was available from the company. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan Editing by Peter Graff)

He said the situation is improving now and the country will continue to receive the required amount of coal. Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday said closure of some mines, and inundation of a few others due to monsoon led to the coal crisis but there is no need to panic as the situation is improving. Visiting the Ashoka mine of the Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) at Piparwar in the Chatra district of Jharkhand, Mr. Joshi said the power plants in the country will continue to receive the required amount ...

BHP Group BHPB.L investors endorsed the miner’s climate change roadmap on Thursday, despite concerns that its long-term plans to tackle customers’ greenhouse gas emissions do not go far enough. Some 83% of BHP Plc’s investors voted in favour of the resolution at the company’s general annual meeting (AGM) in London. Plc shareholders account for 42% of the overall register split between London and Sydney. Its dual-listed share structure is being scrapped in favour of a main listing in Sydney. Proxy advisers Glass Lewis and the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum ...

Dalian iron ore fell for a third straight session on Friday and marked its first weekly decline in a month, as a gloomy outlook for Chinese demand outweighed Rio Tinto’s shipment forecast cut for this year. The steelmaking ingredient’s most-active January contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 ended daytime trading 1% lower at 723.50 yuan ($112.56) a tonne. It fell 2.9% from last week. November iron ore on the Singapore Exchange slipped 0.1% to $123.45 a tonne by 0708 GMT. Rio Tinto Group lowered its 2021 shipment forecast, putting ...

Vietnam may double the amount of coal-fired electric generation it installs by 2030 under a draft power development plan submitted to the prime minister for approval this week. The draft plan guarantees that Vietnam will become more reliant on coal to power its fast growing economy at a time when financiers and insurers are refusing to back new projects because of fuel’s large climate change impact. Coal-fired power plants will account for up to 31.4% of as much as 143.8 gigawatts (GW) of installed generation capacity planned in 2030, according ...

Maize harvesting in France, the European Union’s largest grain producer, remained slow last week, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday. An estimated 15% of the grain maize crop area had been harvested by Oct. 11, up from 7% a week earlier but well below 62% progress a year ago, FranceAgriMer said in a cereal report. Growth of maize crops has been curbed this year by cool spells in spring and summer, while heavy rain since late September has held up early harvest work. For the 50% moisture stage ...

Soaring European wholesale gas prices are encouraging more utilities to switch to carbon-heavy coal to generate electricity just as the region tries to wean nations off the polluting fuel. Although European coal and carbon prices have also jumped in recent months, they have lagged the spike in gas prices, causing short-term marginal costs to shift in favour of using coal to generate electricity. Benchmark carbon permit prices under the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) have almost doubled since the start of the year while European coal futures are more ...

South African banks say they have to keep funding at least some coal projects for now because an immediate halt would put huge political and economic strains on a nation that relies on the most polluting of fossil fuels. The top four banks have started to withdraw financing, with Nedbank NEDJ.J and FirstRand FSRJ.J setting deadlines of 2025 and 2026 respectively to end funding for new thermal coal mines. Both have stopped lending to new coal-fired power plants. But the banks still finance existing coal mines and power stations. Absa ...

China’s Baoshan Iron & Steel Co Ltd (Baosteel) said on Thursday it did not agree with Japanese rival Nippon Steel’s claims that it infringed patents. Nippon Steel said on Thursday it had filed lawsuits against Baosteel and Toyota Motor Corp with a Tokyo district court. Baosteel said in a statement it had repeatedly approached Nippon Steel about the claim and was rebuffed, calling this “regretful”. The company said it had strictly followed regulations and would actively respond to the lawsuits and “firmly” defend its rights and interests. Source: Reuters (Reporting ...

The US soybean acreage in marketing year 2022-23 (September-August) is expected to rise with a simultaneous cut likely in corn acreage amid soaring fertilizer prices, according to analysts. As the fertilizer price indexes hit record highs, the input cost pressure on fertilizer-intensive corn planting will be markedly higher than soybeans in 2022, analysts said. As a result, there could be a notable shift in planting decisions in favor of soybeans when the next planting window opens in May. Global fertilizer prices have been supported primarily by supply-side tightness, coupled with ...

When top barley buyer China last year slapped tariffs of more than 80% on imports from Australia amid a bilateral spat, grain farmers Down Under could have been forgiven for fearing tough times ahead. But a switch to canola, combined with ideal growing conditions and near record prices for the yellow-flowering oilseed, have proved a boom for farmers as they prepare for a second consecutive year of a bumper grain harvest. Better known for its wheat and barley, Australia is forecast to harvest a record canola crop of more than ...

Global demand for high-grade nickel, an essential component in electric vehicle (EV) batteries, will outweigh supply by 2024. An analysis by Rystad Energy indicates that although global supply will continue its steady year-on-year climb, rising demand spurred in part by the energy transition will lead to a shortage in less than two years. Global nickel demand is forecast to climb to 3.4 million tonnes (Mt) in 2024 from 2.5 Mt this year. Rystad Energy’s analysis of existing mines, projects and development plans estimates that global supply will fall short of ...

Chicago corn futures slid on Friday, and are set for a second week of declines, while soybeans faced headwinds on expectations of ample supplies from freshly harvested U.S. crops. Wheat futures eased after closing higher in the previous session. “U.S. corn and soybean crops yields are higher than what we expected,” said one Singapore-based trader at an international company. “U.S. wheat futures are down a little but the bullish trend in Black Sea prices is supporting the market.” The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) fell ...

Chinese regulators’ decision to include all coal-fired power generators and commercial and industrial (C&I) users in market trading is a key step towards power market liberalisation, Fitch Ratings says. The widening of the trading price’s floating band will also mitigate earnings pressure from surging coal prices for China’s power generation companies (gencos). The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued a notice allowing the market trading price of coal-fired power in sales contracts signed between gencos and users or distributors to be raised or lowered by up to 20% of ...

London copper prices on Friday were on track for their biggest weekly gain in nearly five years on supply concerns and as sentiment was supported by the metal surpassing a key psychological level. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 rose 0.4% to $10,025 a tonne by 0633 GMT. It was up 7.1% on a weekly basis and on track for its strongest weekly rise since November 2016. “Bullish sentiment increased during LME Week amid power shortages and supply concerns,” said commodities broker Anna Stablum of Marex Spectron in ...