The explosive growth seen in China’s grain demand this year has not been caused by just a temporary supply shortage but signals a structural change in domestic consumption levels, US Grains Council (USGC) China director Bryan Lohmar said in an interview with S&P Global Platts. China’s corn imports hit 7.8 million mt between January and October, a sharp 1,151% increase from last year, latest data from China customs showed. China’s import volumes are already above the set annual tariff rate quota level of 7.2 million mt, breaching the quota for ...

Venezuela has resumed direct shipments of oil to China after U.S. sanctions sent the trade underground for more than a year, according to Refinitiv Eikon vessel-tracking data and internal documents from state company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). Chinese state companies China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and PetroChina – long among PDVSA’s top customers – stopped loading crude and fuel at Venezuelan ports in August 2019 after Washington extended its sanctions on PDVSA to include any companies trading with the Venezuelan state firm. reut.rs/36ZyATv imposition of the sanctions was part of ...

The Indian Ministry of Finance has cut the import duty on crude palm oil by 10% to 27.5%, according to a document sent to S&P Global Platts. The duty cut will be effective from Nov. 27. Mumbai-based Sunvin Group’s founder and CEO, Sandeep Bajoria, said that “the government was concerned with the high prices locally, and called for the duty reduction to cool the market. The import margins are currently negative at $25-$30/mt, and this move will see the disparity vanish.” “I expect that Indian palm oil imports will increase ...

The planned escalation of a strike by Norwegian security guards could begin to shut the Nyhamna gas processing plant and two large gas fields from Friday, which would reduce Norway’s exports to Europe by a quarter, system operator Gassco said. Some 2,300 security guards organised by the Norwegian Union of General Workers (NAF) are on strike nationwide over pay, and an additional 85 will go on strike from Saturday unless the dispute is resolved first. A gradual shutdown would have to start on Friday to prepare for the strike the ...

Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical will not have any gasoline sales contract on a term basis in the first quarter of 2021, as the producer is unlikely to have much gasoline for export during that period, a company source said Nov. 25. “This year, we had the RDS [residue desulfurization unit] outage. Before the RDS restarts next year, our gasoline export volume will be low,” the source said. Formosa expects to restart its fire-hit No. 2 RDS unit in April 2021 at the earliest, after the 80,000 b/d unit was shut on ...

Promising results from three potential coronavirus vaccines have raised hopes of an economic rebound in 2021, leading oil price to the highest mark since Mar 6. With stock prices of crude exploring and producing companies rallying, it is probably time for the energy sector to bounce back from the pandemic lows. Oil Price Recovers Partially Although the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, approaching $46 per barrel, is significantly below the 2020-beginning price of more than $60 mark, the commodity price has improved considerably in the past few months. ...

Seven of the top 10 destinations for U.S. coal exports reduced shipments in the third quarter and total exports dragged while only mildly improving quarter over quarter as the global economy rebounded from the initial shock of the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. coal exports totaled 13.9 million tonnes in the third quarter, down 30.7% from 20.1 million tonnes shipped in the prior-year period, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Deliveries rose by 3.14% compared to the previous quarter, which could indicate recovering global coal and steel demand among ...

China’s imports of copper concentrate from Australia in October fell by more than half from the previous month, customs data showed, adding weight to speculation Beijing has placed an unofficial ban on shipments. Media reports early this month said the Chinese government had instructed companies not to purchase copper ore and concentrate – as well as at least six other commodities ranging from coal to lobster – from Australia from Nov. 6 because of souring relations between the two countries. Even in October, copper concentrate shipments from Australia were down ...

Saudi Arabia’s exports fell by nearly a third in September from a year ago, driven largely by a slump in oil demand. Total revenue from exports was SR53.3 billion ($14.2 billion) compared with SR77.3 billion for the same month last year, according to a statement from the General Authority for Statistics. Oil exports slumped 38.7 percent to about SR35 billion, it added. Non-oil exports declined 9.3 percent compared to a year ago to about SR18 billion, after having risen in August while plastics and rubber products dropped 13.4 percent, weighing ...

Russia and Saudi Arabia remained the top two crude oil suppliers to China in October, although arrivals from both countries plummeted from September levels as Chinese refiners put a brake on crude purchases. The two countries, which have been boosting crude exports to the economic powerhouse, are in a tight race to become China’s top supplier in 2020. Inflows from Russia, including pipeline oil, last month reached 6.64 million tonnes, equivalent to 1.56 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday. That compared ...

Four trading companies are believed to be taking part in the international tender from Jordan’s state grains buyer to purchase 120,000 tonnes of wheat which closed on Wednesday, traders said. Participants were believed to be CHS, Cerealcom Dolj, Aston and Al Dahra, they said. No purchase has yet been made and results are expected later on Wednesday, traders said. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Michael Hogan, Maha El Dahan and Nadine Awadalla)

China has accelerated imports of crude oil, propane and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States since July, but total energy product purchases through October remain far short of targets for 2020 set out in the Phase 1 trade deal with Washington. Over the first 10 months of 2020, China’s purchases of U.S. crude oil, LNG, propane, butane and other energy products totalled $6.61 billion, about 26% of the $25.3 billion target, according to Reuters calculations based on Chinese customs data. While the gap to the target is unlikely ...

On November 15th the world’s largest trade agreement was signed in a virtual meeting room, bringing an end to eight years of negotiations. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) links 15 Asia-Pacific economies, including the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), plus Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. This is a historic step – and a major trade blow to the United States. Trade between the signatories was worth $2.3 trillion in 2019, making the RCEP the world’s largest trading bloc, eclipsing USFTR and ...

An analysis published by Wood Mackenzie forecasts that thermal coal imports will increase in December in China. According to the market analyst, seaborne thermal coal imports will grow from 9.5 Mt to 20 Mt in December. This new figure is much higher than the 8.8 Mt in September or the 17.7 Mt average of the first nine months of the year. Sign Up for the Energy Digest In WoodMac’s view, the increase will work to ease domestic prices and strengthen seaborne prices. The scenario that leads to such growth is ...

South Korea’s refined oil product exports in October fell 22.8% from a year earlier as jet fuel shipments dropped to the lowest level in almost 13 years, with the prolonged coronavirus pandemic putting air travel close to a standstill, according to data released Nov. 25 by Korea National Oil Corp. The major Asian fuel exporter shipped out 33.8 million barrels, or 1.09 million b/d, of oil products in October, compared with 43.79 million barrels a year earlier, the data showed. The October exports marked the seventh consecutive decline in the ...