Asia’s imports of crude oil reached a record high in January, but the strength wasn’t driven by China, with the world’s biggest buyer actually recording a decline. Asia’s total imports were 29.13 million barrels per day (bpd), up 11.1% from December’s 26.22 million bpd and eclipsing the previous all-time high of 29.10 million bpd from November, according to data compiled by Refinitiv Oil Research. Much of the recent market narrative has been how China’s re-opening from COVID-19 lockdowns will drive up crude oil demand, but the data shows this story ...

The Taiwan Flour Millers’ Association has issued an international tender to purchase 48,100 tonnes of grade 1 milling wheat to be sourced from the United States, European traders said on Friday. The deadline for submission of price offers in the tender is Feb. 9. The tender seeks a range of different wheat types in one consignment for shipment from the U.S. Pacific Northwest coast between March 29 and April 12. Wheat types sought include dark northern spring, hard red winter and white wheat. The association’s tenders traditionally provide an accurate ...

Egypt’s state grains buyer the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) has provisionally bought about 535,000 tonnes of wheat in an international tender on Thursday, traders said. The wheat was all expected to be sourced from Russia, they said. The purchase is provisional as it awaits final approval from the World Bank, which is funding purchases from the tender. Offers in the tender were submitted earlier on Thursday. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo)

The value of Japan’s agricultural and seafood exports rose 14.3% in 2022 from a year earlier to 1.41 trillion yen ($11 billion), setting a record for the 10th consecutive year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) said on Friday. Exports grew as demand for dining out, which had fallen due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has recovered in many countries. Demand from local retail shops and e-commerce has also remained strong, the ministry said, adding the weaker yen against the U.S. dollar also lent support. Exports of agricultural products ...

The Korea Feed Association (KFA) purchased an estimated 126,000 tonnes of animal feed corn in an international tender on Friday, European traders said. Some 60,000 tonnes expected to be sourced from South America was believed to have been bought from trading house Viterra at an estimated $337.80 a tonne c&f. Another 66,000 tonnes to be sourced from optional origins was believed to have been bought from trading house ADM at an estimated $336.60 a tonne c&f. The corn was said to be for arrival in South Korea around April 20. ...

Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country, increased oil exports that bypassed Russia last year, but was still heavily reliant on supply channels via its neighbour, Reuters calculations based on industry data and sources show. Kazakhstan has sought ways to decrease its dependence on Russian exporting routes as it has often faced difficulties in selling oil through Russia. Kazakh oil is not subject to Western sanctions, unlike Russian crude, although the sanctions have created problems for some Kazakh products. The main, and most profitable, route for oil exports from Kazakhstan remains ...

U.S. crude oil imports increased while exports decreased during the week ending Jan. 27, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. U.S. crude oil imports averaged 7.283 million barrels per day (b/d) last week, up by 1.378 million b/d from the previous week, while crude oil exports averaged 3.492 million b/d, down by 1.215 million b/d from the previous week, according to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report. Over the past four weeks, U.S. crude oil imports averaged about 6.599 million b/d, up by 1 percent from the same four-week ...

China’s independent refineries are ramping up imports of discounted fuel oil blended from Russian barrels to use as low-cost feedstock amid a shortage of government crude oil import quotas for some of them, according to trade sources and data. Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including the looming Feb. 5 embargo and price cap on refined products, have been pushing Russian fuel oil barrels eastward into Asia at attractive discounts since last year. These have been flooding the ship-to-ship transfer hubs of Malaysia and United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah since ...

Russia has become India’s largest oil supplier and significantly contributed to the country’s energy security, said Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov while addressing the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA)-Russian Council Dialogue on Thursday. He said that Russia is successfully developing an alternative transport route, the North-South ITC, to attract partners to large-scale energy and infrastructure projects in the Russian forest in Siberia for the northern sea route, according to the news agency ANI. There is an immense prospect in sectors such as airport infrastructure, sea and rail infrastructure, ...

Shell is still receiving cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia under its long-term contract with Novatek, a Shell spokesperson said on Thursday. The world’s largest LNG trader agreed a more than 20-year deal in 2015 for Novatek to supply around 900,000 tonnes per annum from the Yamal LNG plant in Siberia. Shell said in 2022 it would exit all its Russian operations, including a major LNG plant in the Sakhalin peninsula in the eastern flank of the country after Russia invaded Ukraine. The energy giant said it would ...

South Korea’s GS Caltex has issued a tender to sell March-loading jet fuel cargoes, three sources close to the matter said on Friday. This comes after earlier market expectations that the company is maximising jet fuel production, instead of gasoil, to capitalise on better margins for the heating and aviation fuel. Regrade, the discount between jet fuel and 10 ppm sulphur gasoil, has been steadily narrowing since mid- January, data from Refinitiv Eikon showed. The refiner is looking to sell three cargoes via the tender that closes on Feb. 3, ...

Japanese power utilities are stepping up efforts to cut thermal coal import costs by switching to lower quality grades and widening import sources, company officials said, as Tokyo looks to fight inflation and boost energy security. The measures include burning more of cheaper low-to-mid-grade coal and seeking new suppliers in Africa and South America, they said, as the world’s No. 3 coal importer has sharply reduced imports from Russia, sanctioned for its invasion of Ukraine. The disruption in Russian energy exports squeezed energy supplies globally and drove prices of coal ...

Freeport LNG, the second biggest U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, sought approval from federal regulators to start loading LNG onto ships at its long-idled export plant in Texas, according to a filing made available on Thursday. The Freeport plant shut in a fire in June and was barred from restarting until federal regulators completed an extensive safety review and approved resulting changes. Specifically, Freeport said in its filing with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that “reinstatement of Dock 1 LNG loading services will allow Freeport to recommence ...

Iraq exported about 101.24 million barrels of crude oil in January, generating $7.69 billion in revenue, the country’s oil ministry announced. The average price for Iraqi crude oil in January was $75.96 per barrel, the ministry said in a statement, citing statistics from the State Organization for Marketing of Oil, Xinhua news agency reported. About 98.46 million barrels were exported from oil fields in central and southern Iraq via the port of Basra, while more than 2 million barrels from the northern province of Kirkuk via the Turkish port of ...

India’s January palm oil imports fell 31% from a month ago to their lowest in months as a narrowing discount to rival oils prompted refiners to increase purchases of soybean and sunflower oils, five dealers told Reuters on Thursday. The reduction in palm oil imports by India, the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oils, could weigh on Malaysian palm oil prices but support soyoil and help Russia and Ukraine in bringing down their sunoil stocks. India’s palm oil imports fell to 770,000 tonnes last month, the lowest since July 2022, ...