Commodities Focus

As the world economy begins to recover from the pandemic, Mexico is considering the construction of an LNG export terminal in the port of Salina Cruz to use excess natural gas in the country. Douglas Shanda, CEO of private developer Mexico Pacific Limited, which also has a similar project, spoke to S&P Global Platts about the country's potential as an export hub.

2020 was an unusual year for the global rice market. While much of the coverage focused on Asian markets, the Americas dealt with major production swings, huge influxes in demand and the resulting price volatility. In the latest Platts Agriculture Focus podcast, Peter Storey is joined by Raymond Shi and William Bland to discuss supply issues and harvesting in South America, demand for rice from the US South, in addition to a possible influx of Central American and Iraqi demand for Americas rice in Q1 2021.

Seafarers are key to keeping the world's supply chain and maritime trade flowing. However, thousands of seafarers have been stuck on board and unable to get ashore due to coronavirus restrictions. Shipping market participants are making calls to governments to ease the restriction imposed on making crew changes in their countries. To discuss this and the developments in freight markets, S&P Global Platts Senior Editor Sameer Mohindru speaks to Hafnia Tankers Executive Vice President, Technical, Ralph Juhl and Platts Senior Managing Editor Pradeep Rajan.

Elliot Mainzer took over as president and CEO of the California Independent System Operator in September as has been focused on recovering from the August rotating outages and preparing for next summer, while also looking ahead to modernize the resource adequacy system for the wave of storage and renewables coming onto the grid. Mainzer sat down with Kassia Micek, Platts North American power news editor, to discuss the work the ISO is doing and what the future holds.

Ira Joseph, head of gas and power for S&P Global Platts Analytics, and Ryan Ouwerkerk, manager of Americas natural gas pricing for S&P Global Platts, dive into the dynamics driving the meteoric rise of JKM in December, stretching from constraints in the Panama Canal to role of freight rates & reloads in driving JKM higher. While this has pulled TTF higher, NYMEX Henry Hub has continued to be overwhelmed by bearish elements. Will this continue into core winter demand months?

S&P Global Platts ethylene market experts Chris Liu and Astrid Torres join Vanessa Ronsisvalle in taking a deep dive into the state of the ethylene market as the world continues the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Asia's growing appetite for one of the most important feedstocks in the petrochemical chain, and trade flows from the United States to Asia.

Ira Joseph, head of gas and power for S&P Global Platts Analytics, and Ryan Ouwerkerk, manager of Americas natural gas pricing for S&P Global Platts, take stock of the market a few weeks into winter, revisiting several topics from the bulls vs. bears discussion and how they are holding up in early winter.

With India’s domestic steel prices touching decade high numbers, steelmakers have exited the export markets for good. However, scarcity of supply remains a concern as demand recovery across sectors resurfaces after a long period of subdued activity. The market remains cautious about the sustainability of high prices amid the possibility of recurring COVID-19 waves and domestic iron ore shortages. Will India’s domestic market continue showing strength in the near term and break further records? S&P Global Platts Asian Steel Markets Editor Ashima Tyagi discusses these issues and more with Head of APAC Metal Insights Paul Bartholomew.   Learn more: Platts Steel Data and Analysis

This year has been a roller-coaster ride for the Asian light ends market, as the coronavirus pandemic gripped the world, slashed demand for refined oil products and forced the closure of several refineries across the region in its wake. The future of the light ends market will hinge largely on how fast the world progresses in its fight against the pandemic and its economic impact. In this podcast, S&P Global Platts light ends experts Wendy Cheong, Mark Tan, Wanda Wang, and Ramthan Hussain look ahead and explore the potential paths of the Asian gasoline, naphtha and LPG markets in 2021. Related content China rolls out new oil export quotas in bid to cut stocks at home Europe's Dec naphtha arbitrage limited by shipowner interest; Asia firm for Jan arrivals US LPG arrivals to Asia in Dec to be around 2.7 million mt: traders

Ira Joseph, head of gas and power for Platts Analytics, and Ryan Ouwerkerk, manager of Americas natural gas pricing for S&P Global Platts, are joined by Gary Hornby, managing editor for European gas, to discuss global gas movements as we inch into winter with a specific focus on the increasingly important role of Ukrainian storage and transit in the larger European natural gas market both this winter and beyond.