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 …

Steel on the march as Brazil supply, port stocks fall

Iron ore futures soared on Monday on supply-side concerns as major producer Brazil becomes a global hotspot for coronavirus. The country has now close to a quarter of a million cases, the four largest total case count, and a death of over 16,000. According to shipping activity models by Westpac, supply from Brazil has fallen …

DCE rallies on high demand and tightening supply

Chinese futures rose on better Chinese iron ore demand, while tight port inventory and slow shipment continued to support price upticks. As such, the most-actively traded iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), for September delivery, jumped by 5.41% on-day to RMB 691.50 per tonne on Monday. Following the rally, the steel rebar …

Iron Jumps as Brazil Virus Cases Stoke Supply Concerns

Iron ore futures head for the highest close in four months on supply concerns, as the number of coronavirus infections in major producer Brazil continues to soar. Brazil added more cases after a record number of infections Friday, overtaking Spain as the nation with the world’s fourth- highest number of confirmed Covid-19 patients. Brazil’s new …

Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance: Rio Tinto’s first blockchain trade

Mining major, Rio Tinto’s first blockchain iron ore trade with Baosteel this week may set the trend for more such trades to come. The paperless trade transaction was done via the Contour trade finance blockchain platform, that breaks away from the traditional paperwork when documents were normally couriered for inspection. This ‘breakaway’ buried the image …

DCE ends in high notes

Chinese futures ended the week on high note, due to better buying interests over tightness in port inventory. The most-actively traded iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), for September delivery, hiked by 3.33% on-day to RMB 668 per tonne at Friday. Following the rally, the steel rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures …

China’s Industrial Economy Improves While Consumers Remain Wary

China’s industrial output increased in April for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak, adding to early signs of a recovery that economists cautioned would be slow and challenging. Industrial output rose 3.9% from a year earlier, reversing a drop of 1.1% in March, data showed Friday. Fixed-asset investment decreased 10.3% in the first four …

DCE rebounds for the second day on better output

Chinese futures continued to rally for second consecutive day on higher production and margins. The most-actively traded iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), for September delivery, hiked by 1.09% to RMB 647.50 per tonne at Thursday. On the contrary, the steel rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange had slid slightly with …

Is Brazilian iron ore supply about to come under pressure?

The fact that the Colombian government feels the need to militarize the border tells us all we need to know about the Covid-19 situation in Brazil. Fast becoming a global hotspot, neighbouring nations are become increasingly concerned by the country’s failure to tackle the pandemic with the same aggressive tactics that we are seeing internationally. …

Iron Steady With Focus on China Stimulus, Steel Output

Iron ore futures steadied as investors focused on measures in China to shore up economic growth, as well as the outlook for demand. The People’s Bank of China recently vowed to deploy “more powerful” policies, without giving further details on what measures it will use, and key government meetings starting next week may approve more debt sales among …