Commodities Focus

The cost to ship goods on containers are climbing as additional premiums, such as the priority-loading premium, take hold in the market. The premium, which can be from 50-70% over the freight all kinds rate for Southeast Asia to the US and Europe routes, ranges from $2,000-3,500/FEU. S&P Global Platts Container Market experts Ng Bao Ying and Parisha Tyagi examine how the rise in rates echoes a tight container shipping market. Brian Ng, Platts agriculture market specialist, joins in to share insights on the impact of shipping rate and logistical issues on India’s sugar exports. Learn more: Platts Container Price Assessments Get in touch with our team: containers@spglobal.com

Mexico's Pemex recently announced it had discovered more than 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent in an onshore complex in the state of Tabasco, near the site where the company is planning to build its Dos Bocas refinery. That's a large discovery, but there are serious questions about Pemex's ability to reach its stated production goals. S&P Global Platts editors Sheky Espejo in Mexico City and Starr Spencer in Houston examine Mexico's newest discovery.

Brazil's Center-South region will kick off the 2021-22 sugar and ethanol crop season April 1 and producers are betting again on high international sugar prices and depreciated Brazilian real to increase their profitability. Fuel demand was initially forecast to increase in 2021; however, as the country has moved back to further social distancing measures, the forecasts have been revised down. S&P Global Platts editors discuss the main themes to watch in Center-South Brazil in the coming months. Explore now: The Platts Atlas of Energy Transition, your map to the sustainable commodity markets of the future

China consumes around 50% of world's copper and will continue to play a critical role in the market this year. S&P Global Platts metals experts Keith Tan and Han Lu examine China's appetite for copper concentrates as its economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. They also discuss what the market can expect in the second quarter, and give methodology and specification details on Platts clean copper concentrate assessments.  To know more about Platts clean copper concentrate assessments, email our team at platts_asia_copper@spglobal.com or download the methodology here. Explore now: The Platts Atlas of Energy Transition, your map to the sustainable commodity markets of the future

US plug-in electric vehicles accounted for 2.6% of total sales in December, tied with Nov. 2020 for a record high and year-to-date PEVs account for just shy of 2% of all light duty vehicles sold in the US, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. However, recent large orders for electric buses and other fleet vehicles suggest that sector could play a leading role in the proliferation of EVs in the US. In this edition of the Platts Commodities Focus podcast, Jared Anderson, senior writer with S&P Global Platts speaks with John McClure, managing director at Nomura Greentech, about EV market growth, investment trends and how greater EV usage could impact US power markets.

The current European Commission is the greenest ever as it pushes toward carbon neutrality by 2050. Gas —despite being a fossil fuel— is considered by many as having a key role to play in Europe's energy transition, and the industry is working hard on ways to decarbonize gas and secure the future of Europe's vast gas infrastructure, including through the growing use of hydrogen. Following an interview with James Watson, secretary general of industry body Eurogas, S&P Global Platts Stuart Elliott, Henry Edwardes-Evans and James Huckstepp discuss Eurogas' key messages around the role of gas in Europe.

Refinery outages from the cold snap on the US Gulf Coast Feb. 15-19 put even more bearish pressure on the already weak Americas clean tanker market, and heightened diesel prices in the USGC. With petroleum product demand still low globally, the Americas clean tanker market continues to move along the freight floor as typical arbitrages to Europe and Latin America remain closed. Heightened diesel prices and ever-drawing stocks in the USGC have reversed the typical arbitrage to Europe, exacerbating the already low cargo supply for clean tankers looking to carry USGC product exports to other regions. Marieke Alsguth and Troy Duffie of the Americas shipping team sit down with Maha Husseini from the clean oil products team in Houston to discuss immediate impacts from the mid-February cold snap refinery outages and potential outlooks for petroleum product demand in the Americas as the vaccine effort rolls out.

The global styrene market has risen sharply in February, driven by a number of factors around the world, including production issues in Europe and severe winter storms in Texas. Matthew Cook, associate editorial director for Americas petrochemicals coverage for S&P Global Platts, discusses the recent trends with Platts editors Simon Price in London, Emily Burleson in Houston and Tess Tseng in Singapore.

Commodities have witnessed a broad upturn in prices across the board in recent months. In a discussion with S&P Global Platts Asia Energy Editor Sambit Mohanty, veteran commodities investor and chairman of Beeland Interests Inc Jim Rogers says that oil's future would still be looking good 10 years from now, energy transition will find strong support from governments across the globe, while agriculture would still be one of his favorite investment picks. Beeland Interests Inc. is the owner and sponsor of the Rogers International Commodity Index, a composite, US dollar-based total return index, designed by Rogers in the late 1990s. The index represents the value of a basket of commodities consumed globally, ranging from agricultural commodities to energy and metals.

Ira Joseph, head of generating fuels and electricity power pricing for S&P Global Platts, and Ryan Ouwerkerk, manager of Americas natural gas pricing, are joined by Kelsey Hallahan and Arsalan Syed, pricing specialists from the North American natural gas team, to untangle the historic Texas freeze and subsequent price movements and what it means for US and global gas markets.