China’s logistics networks largely remained resilient last month with stable freight volume growth of major enterprises, an analyst said, while cautioning against COVID-19 impacts. The sector maintained a relatively strong capacity for providing logistics services in November, said Hu Han, from the China Logistics Information Center, adding that a survey of some national logistics companies showed that their railway, road and waterway freight volume increased by 1 to 2 percent month on month and e-commerce deliveries grew by 4 to 6 percent. Hu, however, noted that the development of the ...

Russia will sell crude oil to Pakistan at a discounted price, Pakistan’s state minister for petroleum said on Monday, days after he led a government team to Moscow to negotiate the deal. Russia will also give discounted petrol and diesel to Pakistan, Musaddiq Malik told a news briefing in Islamabad. “Their government has also invited Pakistan to initiate talks on long-term contracts to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG),” he said, adding that Islamabad was already in talks with Russian private companies over the import of LNG. It was a successful ...

In view of the tight global corn export supply entering 2023, feed buyers in Asia may soon find a practical solution through the substitution of corn with feed wheat, considering a narrowing feed wheat against corn spread as more exports of Australia’s massive bumper wheat crop enter the global market. Platts CFR Northeast Asia corn prices have persisted above $300/mt levels this year. Since September, only 13% of recorded trades into South Korea closed below $330/mt CFR levels, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed. Global corn export supply entering the ...

Chicago wheat futures inched higher on Tuesday, rising for the first time in four sessions as strong U.S. weekly exports supported the market. Soybeans gained ground on expectations of a recovery in demand with China gradually easing COVID-19 restrictions, corn prices rose. The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 0.2% to $7.40-3/4 a bushel, as of 0341 GMT. Soybeans gained 0.3% at $14.42-1/4 a bushel and corn rose 0.2% to $6.41-1/2 a bushel. During the week ended Dec. 1, U.S. exporters prepared 334,653 tonnes of ...

Oil rebounded on Tuesday after plunging by more than 3% in the previous session, as the implementation of sanctions on Russian seaborne crude oil eased concerns about oversupply while the relaxing of China’s COVID curbs bolstered the demand outlook. Brent crude futures had gained 85 cents to $83.53 a barrel by 0733 GMT. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) rose 68 cents to $77.62 a barrel. Crude futures on Monday recorded their biggest daily drop in two weeks, after U.S. service sector data raised worries that the Federal Reserve could continue ...

Russia’s ESPO oil blend from the Far Eastern port of Kozmino was selling for around $79 a barrel in Asian markets on Monday – almost a third higher than the price cap imposed on Russian oil by the G7 and European Union – according to Refinitiv data and estimates from industry sources. Russia exports up to 65 million tons of ESPO Blend oil per year via the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline, including up to 35 million tons through the port of Kozmino. Source: Reuters

Low middle distillate inventories Middle distillate inventories are tight around the globe. In the US, distillate fuel oil stocks are at their lowest levels on record for this time of year. And the tightness is even more extreme on the US East Coast. In Europe and specifically the ARA region, gasoil stocks are at their lowest levels since 2008 for this stage of the year, according to Insights Global. In Singapore, middle distillate stocks are down at levels last seen back in 2004 for this time of year. The tightness ...

President Vladimir Putin’s plan to make Turkey a hub for Russian gas in theory could allow Moscow to mask its exports with fuel from other sources, but that might not be enough to persuade Europeans to buy, analysts and sources said. Russia supplied 40% of the European Union gas market until Moscow on Feb. 24 sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what it calls a “special military operation”. Since then, the West has introduced sweeping sanctions, including on Russian oil and gas, cut its purchases of the ...

Russian oil output could fall by 500,000 to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) early in 2023 after the European Union imposes a ban on seaborne imports from Monday, two sources at major Russian producers said. The estimate is at the lower end of market analysts’ forecasts of the combined impact of the ban and a proposed price cap on Russian oil, although the sources said the true level would depend on several factors yet to be settled. They requested anonymity to discuss sensitive market dynamics connected with the conflict ...

Europe’s decision to enforce a price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil to drive down the country’s oil revenues without causing a surge in prices is theoretically bearish, said MUFG, a Japanese bank holding and financial services firm. “We have been sceptical on the practicalities of its success,” said MUFG’s Global Markets Research wing. MUFG draws three key conclusions of what could transpire next – beyond Russia’s reaction function – acknowledging that the above conditionalities may vary significantly over time and with global supply-demand balances: Chinese demand Perhaps ...

Back in 2019, Shell sold the world’s first carbon offset LNG cargo (COLNG) to Tokyo Gas in a deal that offset the emissions from the entire LNG value chain. Since then, more than 30 COLNG deals have been reported globally, with an estimated 5.5 MtCO2e offset – many using Wood Mackenzie’s LNG Carbon Emissions Tool to estimate emissions. The obvious next step would be to extend this approach to crude. However, in the three years since that first cargo there has been little movement in the crude markets to price ...

Global stocks headed for a third straight day of losses on Tuesday and the dollar rose after more U.S. data reinforced the belief among investors that the Federal Reserve might stick longer with aggressive interest rate rises. MSCI’s world index fell 0.3%, led by tech stocks which are often more sensitive to broader shifts in sentiment. Europe’s STOXX tech sub index lost 0.3% , Hong Kong listed tech giants fell 1.8% and Korea’s tech-heavy KOSPI benchmark shed 1%. The oil and gas sector also suffered after a near-3.5% slide in ...

The U.S. dollar index held firm on Tuesday, following its biggest rally in two weeks after strong services data in the United States fuelled expectations for higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve than recently projected. The Australian dollar perked up from near one-week lows after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raised rates for the eighth time in as many months. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, was at 105.24, steady after Monday’s 0.7% rally, its biggest since Nov. 21. It had dipped ...

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has warned that pension funds and other ‘non-bank’ financial firms now have more than $80 trillion of hidden, off-balance sheet dollar debt in the form of FX swaps. Dubbed the central bank to the world’s central banks, the BIS raised the concerns in its latest quarterly report, in which it also said this year’s market upheaval had, by and large, been navigated without many major issues. Having repeatedly urged central banks to act forcefully to dampen inflation, it struck a more measured tone this ...

China’s exports and imports likely contracted further in November due to weakening global demand, production disruptions and waning demand at home amid widespread pandemic controls, a Reuters poll showed. Data for November are expected to show a 3.5% fall in outbound shipments from a year earlier, after October’s figures were down an annual 0.3%, according to the median forecast of 28 economists in the poll. That would mark the worst performance since May 2020. Actual trade data will be released on Wednesday. The frail economists’ estimate for exports suggests cooling ...