Commodities Focus

S&P Global Platts editor Eric Yep and pricing specialists Fred Wang and Srijan Kanoi examine the impact of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, on China's coal and LNG markets, and take a look at potential demand centers that could absorb existing supplies in the market.

Amid prolonged drought in Thailand , the latest S&P Global Platts Commodities Focus podcast investigates the damage to the country's vital agriculture sector . This has been most keenly-felt in the rice industry , and EMEA agriculture lead Robert Beaman discusses the latest developments in production and prices with rice expert Stephen Jones. They are joined by rice team manager Charlotte James an...

Hydrogen is seen across all sectors of the economy, from transportation to industry, power generation and domestic heat, as a potential decarbonisation tool. Huge questions remain about the cost and route to market of low and zero carbon H2 production, and whether governments and industry are willing and able to step up and accelerate a transition to meaningful scale. This episode of the Commoditi...

With natural gas prices bumping down to record lows and supplies set to increase in the coming years, sellers of gas into Europe are keeping everything crossed that coal and nuclear closures will galvanize a new dash-for-gas in generation markets. Platts news and analytics experts compare notes on the state of the market, the outlook for pipeline and LNG supply and the prospects for new gas burn i...

With India's domestic steel prices staging a recovery, steelmakers have shifted their focus to their home markets. However, they remain cautious about any repercussions from COVID-19, fundamentally slow demand growth, an uninspiring Union Budget, and ongoing auctions for mining leases. Will India's domestic market continue showing strength in the face of these developments? S&P Global Platts Asian...

Steel and raw materials markets have been particularly affected by the coronavirus, as two of the key demand sectors – construction and manufacturing – remain in limbo awaiting workers to return. Meanwhile, deliveries of raw materials have been held up by logistical constraints, while mills are tentatively starting to trade again. Paul Bartholomew, S&P Global Platts head of market insight for meta...

A little over a month into the IMO 2020 switch from 3.5% to 0.5% sulfur bunker fuels, the lifting of US sanctions on COSCO-owned tankers and dented crude oil and jet fuel demand due to the coronavirus outbreak had tanker freight take a u-turn and re-open arbitrage flows from the US Gulf Coast. Marieke Alsguth, Barbara Troner and Catherine Wood of the S&P Global Platts shipping team talk about how...

From the bursting bubble of palm oil prices, to the soybean harvests of South America and the far-reaching impact of the coronavirus , the global vegetable oil markets are multi-faceted and dynamic. Join Robert Beaman, George Duke, Anu Das, Rafael Savoia and Huw Shortland to understand the complicated and fast-moving world of vegetable oils, and why prices have come under pressure in recent weeks.

The coronavirus outbreak, which has been declared by the World Health Organization as a global health emergency, is expected to slowdown economic growth in China, the world's largest crude oil, iron ore and soybean importer, and steel exporter. S&P Global Platts Analytics, Insight and Pricing teams gather to take a deep dive into the demand and price impact of the outbreak on the commodity markets...

Brazil, the largest fuel consumer in South America, has been going through many changes in fuel consumption and pricing dynamics. Since state-led oil company Petrobras started to follow the international price parity reference for gasoline and diesel, E100 hydrous ethanol consumption has started to spike due to a favorable price advantage for consumers. Brazilian drivers have shifted their consump...

A new decade is bringing new challenges for US power markets. The renewables buildout continues to disrupt the market in ways never seen before, mild winter weather and very weak natural gas prices have depressed power prices, and the PG&E situation is ever evolving. Kassia Micek, Mark Watson and Jeff Ryser of the Platts Americas Power Team look at the biggest stories across the US power market an...

In light of the proposed Green Deal to make Europe carbon neutral by 2050, it is clear that the energy transition is on the forefront of policymakers' minds. Roman Kramarchuk and Dan Klein of S&P Global Platts Analytics put the European energy transition into a global context, and the likelihood of meeting 2-degree warming targets.

We're one month into the new IMO 2020 sulphur cap and Container Editor George Griffiths and Dry Bulk Editor Sam Eckett look at how the container and dry bulk freight markets are reacting at this time, whilst keeping a fairweather eye on Lunar New Year and the rapid spread of coronavirus which is eating into customer confidence in the freight world.

January 28 marks the one-year anniversary of sanctions imposed by the US Department of Treasury on Venezuela's state-run oil producer, PDVSA, which has been translated as a de facto ban on Venezuelan crude exports to the US market. Since then, PDVSA has seen a deterioration of its oil industry and has struggled to sell its crude barrels in international markets. In contrast, other Latin American c...

With 2020 bringing increased blending and greenhouse gas saving mandates to the EU biofuels market, the latest S&P Global Platts Commodities Focus podcast looks at why the ethanol market exists and how EU ethanol mandates filter through to the daily experience of road users. EMEA agriculture pricing lead Robert Beaman discusses current market trends with biofuels managing editor Chrysa Glystra and...

S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber and S&P Global Market Intelligence natural gas reporter Corey Paul discuss with Platts head of Americas gas news Joe Fisher the outlook for US LNG export projects following the initial trade agreement that the US and China signed January 15. The agreement keeps tit-for-tat tariffs from escalating, but existing Chinese duties on imports of US...

Chinese crude steel production had a bumper year in 2019, rising 8.3% to just short of 1 billion mt, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. S&P Global Platts steel specialists Paul Bartholomew and Jing Zhang revisit the factors that underpinned the growth in China's steel output last year, and examine the drivers that could support and impact the country's steel production in 2020.

An initial trade agreement between the US and China signed by officials from both countries January 15 could change the landscape for commodities markets that have been roiled by punishing tit-for-tat tariffs over the last 18 months.

Caustic soda is considered a major economic indicator for manufacturing, which is why its weaker pricing was among many indicators of economic slowdowns in China and Europe last year. Current market prices remain under pressure in all regions, amid global oversupply and lack of demand growth. Global Market Lead for polymers and editor Kristen Hays tells Ora Lazic about the events that led to this...

With details still scarce on the US-China trade deal, markets' initial reaction was underwhelming. This indicates that the highly anticipated deal did not deliver on market expectations. Ivy Li, Gustavo Bonato, Pete Meyer, and Andrei Agapi, S&P Global Platts specialists from China, Brazil, the US, and Singapore, examine the impact of the deal on soybean exports from US and Brazil, and the demand i...

Pressure on plummeting coal prices could cascade throughout 2020 as unprecedented events within the wider energy markets have helped the energy mix to connect like never before. Platts reporters Antoine Simon, Joseph Clarke and Amanda Flint discuss with Sarah Matthews where this year could lead in both the worlds of coal and gas and whether coal-to-gas switching levels can really go any higher.

The consortium of ExxonMobil, Hess and China's CNOOC recently announced that first oil was being produced from Guyana's offshore. Starr Spencer, S&P Global Platts senior editor for oil news, talks with Laura Huchzermeyer, Platts managing editor of Americas crude markets, about the news from Guyana and the potential impacts on the market.

As more US municipalities set ambitious goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power generation, transportation and other sectors, use cases for hydrogen are emerging that include fuel cells, direct burning in gas-fired turbines and energy storage applications. With these trends in mind, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems is launching the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in central Utah tha...

In the final Shipping Commodities Focus podcast of 2019, S&P Global Platts editors George Griffiths and Sam Eckett discuss the state of the markets ahead of IMO 2020's January 1 deadline. They review the inaugural Platts European Shipping Seminar in Athens; how the Kübler-Ross model of grief (the five stages) applies to global shipping; and investigate why public and private companies are approach...

With record-high production and unprecedented exposure to global markets through exports, US natural gas markets are in many ways heading into uncharted territory this winter. S&P Global Platts Americas natural gas manager Ryan Ouwerkerk speaks with senior gas pricing specialists Veda Chowdhury and Kelsey Hallahan about what to expect this winter for US natural gas pricing. The discussion includes...