Commodities Focus

London Metal Exchange aluminum stocks have plunged steeply this year. In this podcast, S&P Global Platts editors Vicky Bakourou and Mayumi Watanabe discuss causes behind the fall, analysis of the market fundamentals and outlook for 2018.We welcome any feedback or suggestions for topics. Contact...

Prices of Australian alumina have ebbed after recently climbing to multi-year highs. In this podcast, S&P Global Platts editors Yuen Cheng Mok and Joanna Lim examine the factors driving alumina prices and the impact of the anticipated smelter output cuts in China. They also talk about the...

S&P Global Platts senior sugar analyst, Erin Burns, and biofuels editor, George Griffiths, take a look at the delicate political issues in Zimbabwe following Robert Mugabe's resignation, and investigate the potential impacts on sugar and ethanol production within the breadbasket of Africa. How...

A working group of the IMO met at the organisation's headquarters in London recently to discuss cutting greenhouse gas emissions, setting off a public dispute about whether the shipping industry has too much influence over the UN body. S&P Global Platts fuel oil managing editor Ned Molloy and...

Mexico's Energy Regulatory Commission has been working for the past couple of years on NOM-016 to update the country's gasoline regulations, including standards around blending ethanol to the fuel supply. But an injunction stopped an increased blend of 10% and moved it back to 5.8%. Editors...

Ahead of Platts first ever Digital Commodities Summit in London on November 14, 2017, James Rilett, Global Director of Innovation at S&P Global Platts spoke to our premier event sponsor, James Robert ("Bo") Collins, Founder of Matrix Global, on the key conference theme of how blockchain...

Close to 3,000 petrochemical industry representatives attended the recently concluded EPCA annual meeting in Berlin, where digitization dominated discussions. A Platts seminar organized on the sidelines discussed key aspects like the impact of crude on petrochemicals and the polymers and aromatics...

Russian and OPEC officials last week discussed the progress of their landmark crude oil production deal, and plans to increase bilateral cooperation, during multiple meetings and events held in Moscow. Russia's relationship with Saudi Arabia took center-stage, with the Saudi King's historic...

The Asian thermal coal market is at an interesting crossroads this week, as Chinese buyers make a cautious return to the Asia seaborne market after their week-long holiday. Meanwhile, buyers in Japan continue to wrestle with Australian coal suppliers over prices for term contracts starting October...

Recent Platts spot billet upcharges are being driven higher by strong extrusion demand and a handful of supply issues, which may continue into next year. Karen McBeth, director of metals pricing and market engagement, speaks with Sarah Baltic Hilliard, Americas aluminum products pricing specialist,...

Over the past two weeks, the alumina market has seen high prices, fewer spot cargoes and talks of refinery cuts, sending prices to multi-year highs. In this podcast, S&P Global Platts editors Yuen Cheng Mok and Joanna Lim examine the surge in alumina prices and look at market expectations in...

Russia's recent focus on diversifying its export markets in Asia dovetails with plans by many countries in the region to expand refining capacities, which is reflected in a growing number of joint projects agreed recently. S&P Global Platts managing editor in Moscow Nadia Rodova discusses how...

The future of antidumping duties against Argentinian biodiesel were finally confirmed this week, stipulating duties to be reduced by September 28. S&P Global Platts European biofuels editor, George Griffiths and global editorial director for agriculture, Tim Worledge discuss the potential...

The polyethylene terephthalate market saw prices spike at the beginning of August when Lotte declared FM at one of its two plants in Wilton, UK. S&P Global Platts editor Sarah-Jane Flaws details the current situation and the expectation over the coming months. We welcome any feedback or...

The advent of the new sugar crop and overhaul of the European sugar regime in October are causing a stir in the European ethanol industry, as market participants expect to see some sugar-beet-based ethanol capacity return to the market. Further down the line, concerns around the potential removal of...

Monday's eclipse cut a path across the US, causing concern for power grid operators — especially those with significant amounts of solar power generation. How did prices react, and what else is ahead in 2017? The North American power pricing team of Kassia Micek, Charles Noh and Jeff Zhou...

Approximately 90% of the world's trade travels by sea and one would expect the industry's supply chain to be the height of modernity by adopting disruptive technology and strategies. However, this could not be further from the truth, as S&P Global Platts commodities associate Eleni...

A US appeals court rejected the Environmental Protection Agency's use of waiver authority to lower the federal biofuel mandate's blending volumes based on downstream constraints, but the decision leaves a lot of questions about how to find RINs to make up compliance shortfalls. Josh Pedrick and Wes...

With the future of anti-dumping duties against Argentinian and Indonesian biodiesel uncertain, S&P Global Platts editors Tim Worledge, Samar Niazi and George Griffiths take a look at how this could change the global biodiesel market and the emergence of new trade flows stemming from this,...

Alumina prices started the year on a high note, and corrected in the second quarter. What's instore for the Asian alumina market for the rest of the year? Editors Yuen Cheng Mok and Joanna Lim examine the factors that could affect the market in the second half, including China's drive to tackle...

The US Environmental Protection Agency's proposed 2018 renewable volume obligations were released July 5, and responses from biofuels and oil industry players were mixed. Biofuels reporters Josh Pedrick and Wes Swift, as well as policy reporter Brian Scheid, crunch the numbers and consider how...

Asia's seaborne thermal coal market unexpectedly took off in June on a sudden surge in demand from Chinese buyers including large power utilities after a relatively subdued May. In this podcast, senior editor Michael Cooper joins editor Michelle Zhao in examining what's driving coal buyers in China...

Tom Crotty, director of European petrochemical company Ineos talks about its recent expansion plans underpinned by the need for more ethylene and propylene in Europe. The plans include a new propane dehydrogenation unit in Europe and expansion of ethylene capacity in Rafnes, Norway and Grangemouth,...

Russian and Saudi relations are emerging in the wider energy sphere and how these deepening ties feed into the whole OPEC/non-OPEC cooperation is begging the question as to whether one is a precursor to the other, according to associate editorial director Paul Hickin and managing editor Nadia...

The US aluminum industry is keeping a close eye on automotive sales forecasts and competition among smelters with the approach of summer — a typical time for maintenance shutdowns. Pricing specialists Sarah Baltic Hilliard and Alex Ifkovits delve into secondary aluminum trends and the current...