China is stocking up on grains, metals and other commodities, providing a boost to industrial bulk shipping companies as Beijing braces for a potential new wave of supply-chain disruptions from rising Covid-19 infections among the country’s Western trading partners. China is the world’s biggest commodity importer, making up roughly 40% of the dry-bulk shipping market, and its rebounding economy has been driving a surge in prices for industrial commodities, including copper, aluminum and cotton. With China’s overall imports up 13.2% in September from the same month last year, shipping executives ...

IMO forges ahead with development of new short-term measures to implement GHG strategy. Draft new mandatory measures to cut the carbon intensity of existing ships have been agreed by an International Maritime Organization (IMO) working group. This marks a major step forward, building on current mandatory energy efficiency requirements to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. The proposed amendments to the MARPOL convention would require ships to combine a technical and an operational approach to reduce their carbon intensity. This is in line with the ambition of the Initial ...

This month, delegates from governments around the world are meeting (virtually) for a crucial, albeit under-the-radar, climate summit at the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO). The topic is how to decarbonize the global shipping industry, which accounts for over 80% of world trade and more than one billion tons of greenhouse-gas emissions per year – more than any but the top-five emitting countries. This massive source of emissions cannot be ignored. Our fossil-fuel addiction is having a disastrous impact on the planet, particularly on our oceans. Increased heat and ...

VLCC Rates were flat this week on most of the routes in this sector. 280,000mt to USG via the Cape/Cape routing remains assessed at a shade above WS17, although overnight we have had a ship reported on subjects to Exxon at WS14 for this with various other options. 270,000mt to China remains steadfast at around WS29 level. In the Atlantic, rates for 260,000mt West Africa to China remain unchanged at WS30, while 270,000mt USG to China rates dipped $150k to be assessed at a shade above $4.6m, having seen a ...

China’s index of export container transport edged up in the past week, according to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. The average China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) stood at 1,054.34 on Oct. 23, up 0.1 percent from a week earlier, according to the exchange. The sub-reading for the South Africa service led the increase with a week-on-week growth of 6.6 percent, followed by that for the Australia/New Zealand service, which rose 4.1 percent. The CCFI tracks spot and contractual freight rates from Chinese container ports for 12 shipping routes across the globe, ...

Earlier this month the International Energy Agency (IEA) released

Brazil jumped to China’s third-biggest crude oil supplier in September, import data showed on Sunday, as China’s independent refiners scooped up cheap supplies of the South American exporter’s relatively high quality oil. Imports from Brazil hit 4.49 million tonnes, up from 2.96 million tonnes a year earlier, data from China’s General Administration of Customs showed. Brazil overtook Iraq, which fell to fifth-biggest supplier. China’s January-September imports from Brazil were 33.69 million tonnes, up 15.6% from a year earlier, according to Reuters calculations based on the data. China makes up 70% ...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has projected a banner performance over the next year for domestic corn and soybean exports, and so far, sales have been living up to the hype. Those bookings have translated to a record shipment pace for soybeans, but corn has yet to turn out the drastically larger export volumes. The 2020-21 marketing year for U.S. corn and soybeans began on Sept. 1, but buyers had already booked a record number of cargoes prior to that date. Ever since, sales have continued at a very robust ...

In the week ending Oct-23, Ningbo Containerized Freight Index (NCFI) issued by Ningbo Shipping Exchange (NBSE)

China’s soybean imports in September consisted mostly of cheaper Brazilian beans purchased in earlier months when the South American beans were sold at an average discount of 10-20 cents/bushel to their US counterpart, market sources said. While the Brazilian soybeans accounted for 74% of total Chinese oilseed imports in September, a 51% year-on-year increase to 7.25 million mt, the US beans contributed a mere 12% at 1.17 million mt, compared with 1.73 million mt in the same period last year, China’s customs data showed Oct. 25. The Brazilian real had ...

The UN agency responsible for setting climate targets for global shipping, was left red faced today, as delegates pushed measures that broke the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. After a week of talks, delegates at the UN’s International Maritime Organization failed to agree to targets that would meet the Paris Agreement, as they had originally agreed to do in 2018, a deal the shipping industry hailed as ‘historic’ and which 100 countries had voted on. Even worse, what emerged today was that IMO will not be imposing any meaningful penalties ...

China’s government is expected to issue more import quotas and buy millions of tonnes of additional corn in the new crop marketing year, three industry sources said, amid a surge in animal feed demand and tightening supplies. Under already approved quotas, Beijing has booked around 12 million tonnes of corn from the United States and around 5 million tonnes from elsewhere including Ukraine for the 2020/21 marketing year, according to a Singapore-based international trading source and two other people with knowledge of the deals. China, which needs about 280 million ...

A recovery in steel and pig iron production in the Atlantic Basin markets has led to stronger demand for iron ore pellets and met coal, stabilizing prices and premiums, according to industry participants. Iron ore quarterly contract pellet premiums are at an all-time low in the fourth quarter, with S&P Global Platts Atlantic blast furnace contract pellet premium falling to $27.50/dry mt in October, down $1 from September, with a broader price range of Q4 settlements. While miners may feel it is too early to settle first quarter 2021 pellet ...

China has substantially increased purchases of U.S. farm goods and implemented 50 of 57 technical commitments aimed at lowering structural barriers to U.S. imports since the two nations signed a trade deal in January, the U.S. government said. In a joint statement, the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said China had bought over $23 billion in U.S. agricultural goods to date, or about 71% of the target set under the so-called Phase 1 deal. “Since the Agreement entered into force eight months ago, ...

The ocean is a cornerstone of the global economy and a critical source of resources for the world’s growing population. It provides food, jobs and livelihoods to over three billion people, facilitates global trade and creates a home for the nearly 2.4 billion people who live in coastal areas. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, forecasts suggested that the ocean economy could provide economic growth opportunities over the coming decade, creating $3 trillion annually in gross value added by 2030. However, investment into the ocean economy is drastically low. Just 1% of ...