China Is Now India’s Biggest Iron Ore Buyer, And Wants to Import More

May 19 — China was India’s largest purchase of iron ore in the fiscal year ended March 31, and the buyer reportedly has plans to import even more ore from the sub-continental Asian nation. China bought 30.8 million tons of iron ore from India during the period, two and a half times more than the …

DCE jumps for the fifth day on stimulus expectation

Chinese futures jumped for the fifth consecutive trading day on anticipation of further infrastructure stimulus introduced during the National’s People Congress. Thus, the most-actively traded iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), for September delivery, hiked further by 3.64% day-on-day to RMB 711 per tonne on Tuesday. Similarly, the steel rebar contract on …

Capesize extends positive run on better bunker prices

Capesize market continued its positive run with more fixings and stronger Pacific market that drove better freight rates. As such, the Capesize 5 time charter average rose by $481 to $2,875 on Monday, as some trade participants were heard to do “bottom picking” after another round of short covering. Driven by better Capesize rates, the …

Shale production tumbles as VLCC armada heads east

Oil production from the top seven shale regions in the U.S. is set to tumble to levels not seen since 2018 as drillers scale back in response to the recent price collapse, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude output from seven major shale formations expected to fall by a record 197,000 barrels per day in …

China construction in the bubble, iron ore demand risk remains

Ferrous Sector Money Flow: DCE iron ore aggregated open interest is up 38.97% from April 29th and reached the highest level in Q2, coking coal decreased by 18.55% during the same period. Steel, coke and flat glass used in house construction remained stable on open interest. Investors should be aware of money flow out of …

China Mulls Targeting Australian Wine, Dairy on Coronavirus Spat

Australian exports of wine, seafood, oatmeal, fruit and dairy are in danger of being targeted by China if Beijing decides to escalate a row over Canberra’s calls for an investigation into the origin of Covid-19, according to people familiar with the matter Chinese officials have compiled a list of potential goods that it could target …

Repeat of Oil’s Sub-Zero Plunge Unlikely as June Expiry Nears

Oil’s historic crash below zero looked increasingly like an aberration as the June contract rose for a fourth day in its last session of trading before expiring. Amid growing signs of a nascent recovery in demand, deepening production cuts and optimism that the world is getting closer to finding a vaccine for the coronavirus, futures …

Iron Climbs as Traders Eye Steel Demand, Supply Fears

Iron ore futures extended gains for a third day to reach the highest since January as investors weigh strong domestic demand in China and supply worries from Brazil. The recovery in the production from steel mills in China is boosting sentiment, while iron ore port stockpiles declined to the lowest in more than three years …

Clear skies but airfreight outlook is anything but

Further signs of weakness have appeared in the forward airfreight price, as rates out of Hong Kong into the US have completely collapsed. Congestion remains in Shanghai, as cargo gets backed up across a number of the core mainland Chinese airports. China has locked down a second city this week (Jilin), on reports of new …

Commodities Bounce Back on Chinese Stimulus Anticipation and Vaccine Hopes

Freight prices jumped on Monday with front month Capesize futures up over 10% on anticipation of a large stimulus package out of China later this week. This created a knock-on effect into the smaller vessels with the Panamax front month futures up over 5%. Oil futures performed well with a USD 3.00 move higher, as …