Commodities Focus

The Turkish polyethylene market faces tough times ahead due to the combination of a resurgent lira, high Asian polyethylene stocks, weak domestic demand and rising supplies from both east and western markets. S&P Global Platts North Africa and Turkey petrochemicals editor Daved Chohan and...

The North American power pricing team takes a coast-to-coast look at the US electric power landscape, including forecast demand, generating capacity and prices for ERCOT, Cal-ISO and the PJM Interconnection. Kassia Micek, Charles Noh and Jeff Zhou evaluate how the power markets are shaping up as...

Volumes of palm oil methyl ester from Southeast Asia is heading towards the European biofuels complex, as Europe's blending and production hubs of Spain and Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp soak up imports to fire FAME 0 production. S&P Global Platts editors Tim Worledge and George Griffiths...

Neil Atkinson, Head of the IEA Oil Industry & Markets Division, talks to S&P Global Platts senior oil news editor, Robert Perkins, on the outlook for global oil market balances, the recent oil price slip, the implications of potential rollover of output cuts by OPEC and other key oil...

The Eastern Fuel Buyers Conference draws coal players from all basins and different market segments, and the mood had lifted this year as the industry welcomes an uptick in demand and new administration in the White House. Coal Trader editors Jeff McDonald and Jim Levesque both attended the...

Expectations are rife of an introduction of consumption taxes on mixed aromatics into China. But will this change the face of the European blending components market? Yuriko Kato, petrochemicals EMEA editor, explores this subject with the aromatics senior specialist, Sam Hashmi, and the gasoline...

Extremely volatile metallurgical coal and coke prices, and delays in industry reference pricing is pushing uncertainty into the market. There is speculation around the rate of return for shipments from Queensland, and how much further restocking is expected. At the recent Eurocoke conference in...

Paul Harnick, head of chemicals and the global chemicals chief operating officer at KPMG, joins Yuriko Kato, reporter in the European petrochemicals team, to discuss the latest trends in M&As in the petrochemicals industry. Despite significant political unknowns, from Brexit negotiations to the...

In 2020 the shipping industry is facing its biggest change since the shift away from burning coal a century ago as the IMO is set to impose a new 0.5% sulfur cap on marine fuel emissions. S&P Global Platts associate director Paul Hickin and editorial lead for bunker news Jack Jordan assess the...

Turkey stopped Russian grain imports following a government decision in mid-March. What impact did the lack of Russian grains imported into Turkey have on the milling and processing industry, how is the decision likely to affect the trading landscape, and will Turkish consumers continue buying...

Unica, Brazil's sugar industry group, is seeking the reinstatement of an ethanol import tariff, citing greenhouse gas emissions from other producers and surging ethanol imports — especially from the US. Biofuels analyst Beatriz Pupo talks to US ethanol editor Josh Pedrick about how Brazil's...

S&P Global Platts content director for EMEA metals Christopher Davis, and senior writer Robert Perkins -– just back to London from the shores of Lake Geneva -- discuss the outlook from the recent FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland. From oil to metals and mining to...

It was another busy International Petrochemical Conference from the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers in San Antonio, and our editors and analysts share what they learned from various conversations about olefins, polymers, aromatics and intermediates. John Calton, managing editor for...

It seems Mother Nature decided to skip most of winter in the Northeast US this year, but a recent cold snap bumped up power and gas prices in March and the region's generation mix is still changing. Charles Noh and Eric Wieser, with the power pricing team, examine how day-ahead power prices were...

Senior editor Michael Cooper and associate editor Mia Corazon Aureus give an overview of Asian thermal coal markets, including the latest in Japan's benchmark contract negotiations, South Korean imports and coal consumption tax updates, Indonesian prices, and our newly-launched Northeast Asian...

On both sides of the Atlantic, recent political developments are starting to have an impact on what will end up on your plate. Fresh back from the International Sweetener Colloquium, Tim Worledge, editorial director of pricing, sits down with Thomas Houghton, senior pricing specialist, to take a...

Last year, CSX's chemical segment surpassed coal as the railroad's largest revenue generator as it and other railroads are moving more resin and years of polymer production growth is coming. Kristen Hays, petrochemical analyst, examines how railroads are looking to fill space where coal revenues...

Ahead of the launch of formal Brexit divorce negotiations expected in March, Thierry Bros, senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies joins Lucie Roux, senior European gas specialist at S&P Global Platts, to discuss the challenges ahead for an import-dependent UK gas...

On February 8, the European Commission dropped its anti-dumping duty on imports of PET from China, which were as high as 22.9%. But will the European PET producers now find themselves with an elephant in the room? Shashank Shekhar, petrochemicals EMEA news editor, explores this subject with the PET...

It would hardly be an understatement to say Russia has fallen on hard economic times in recent years, although this does not tell the whole story. Tim Worledge, editorial director of pricing, joins Erin Burns, senior analyst, and Thomas Houghton, senior pricing specialist, to discuss some of the...

Preliminary data for January indicates that Russian oil producers are complying with an OPEC/non-OPEC deal to cut crude output, which alongside Russia's relationship with the new US administration looks set to have a significant impact on Russian oil in 2017. Nadia Rodova, managing editor at...

US thermal coal prices have risen over the past few months, largely lifted by higher gas prices for power generation, and forecasts for a tighter gas market in 2017 is good news for coal producers. Jim Levesque and Jeff McDonald, associate editors for Coal Trader, detail price movements for Central...

Tim Worledge and Claudiu Covrig look at the intricate interplay between supply and demand in the global sugar markets, and mull the impact of recovering sugar production in India and Thailand, the return of the EU to the international markets and the effect of prolonged poor monsoons in India which...

Mike Boswell, chair of the Brexit Committee at the British Plastic Federation assesses the challenges for an import dependent UK plastics industry post Brexit. UK converters face legislation changes, currency volatility and uncertainty in demand as the UK moves towards leaving the European Union. We...

After years of steady price declines, European power markets are dancing to a lively tune of nuclear outages, low wind and spiky Winter demand. Will prices rebalance once the current capacity squeeze is over? S&P Global Platts power reporters Henry Edwardes-Evans and Andreas Franke compare...