Commodities Focus

In the global wheat markets, recent concerns over a major production cut in Russia, a key exporter, have sparked attention on the supply and demand dynamics. Neighbouring European producers are also facing similar concerns. Meanwhile, in Canada and Australia, weather developments in recent months have played a significant role in shaping production prospects. While, on the demand side, key importing regions such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Asia are experiencing challenges as well. In this podcast, Lalita AVD, editor, agriculture news, talks to Vivien Tang, senior editor, APAC agriculture and food Pricing, Vivian Iroanya, editor, EMEA agriculture and food pricing, and Ashya Kaderabek-vela, associate editor, Americas agriculture pricing about the potential implications of the production cut in Russia and analyze how other key wheat exporters, such as Canada and Australia, could step up to fill in the supply gap. Russian Wheat 12.5% FOB Black Sea Deep Water (WRBSD00)  CWRS Wheat 13.5% FOB Vancouver (30-45 days forward) (AWHCD00)  APW Wheat FOB Australia (WAUSA00) 

J Robinson discusses the impact of high temperatures on gas and power markets for summer 2024, highlighting data center power demand growth, gas supply constraints, and competition for gas supplies. Insights into price spikes, cooling demand, and gas storage levels in Southern California are also covered.

Global container markets have endured a year of volatility not experienced since the global pandemic in 2020-2021, anchored by the complexity for supply chains as carriers loop around the Cape of Good Hope. Now that demand is ushering back into markets in a period of restocking, rates have surged upwards for North and South American import markets from Asia, with some suggesting that the ceiling has not yet been reached heading into Q3. In the midst of all of this is an uncertain geopolitical environment, where impending tariffs imposed by the US government on Chinese goods have influenced volume shifting in this upward drive.

Meat consumption is soaring globally, driven by population growth, rising incomes, and dietary preferences. As emerging markets embrace protein-rich diets, demand for feed grains intensifies, and the weather, government policy, animal disease and other factors can have major impact on both industries.  For the second installment of this two-part series focusing on global beef and poultry markets, Will Bland resumes the conversation, this time with agriculture managing editors Liz Thang and Asim Anand. The team turns the spotlight to Asia and the Middle East, where most of the world's population and livestock live. Links:  Press Release: S&P Global Commodity Insights Launches New Platts Price Assessments for Poultry, Beef Proteins Price Assessments: S&P Global Commodity Insights Live

Grilling season is underway in the US -- the world's largest producer and consumer of beef. Even so, per capita consumption of beef in the US has halved over the last 50 years. The US can now produce more beef with fewer head of cattle, but it has become reliant on imported beef. And Brazil has a herd of some 235 million head and now supplies the world.  In this first installment of a two-part series focusing on global beef and poultry markets, EMEA agriculture and food manager William Bland speaks with Americas agriculture managers John-Laurent Tronche and Rafael Savoia about these changing dynamics.   Links: Press Release: S&P Global Commodity Insights Launches New Platts Price Assessments for Poultry, Beef Proteins Price Assessments: S&P Global Commodity Insights Live

As election fever grips the UK, this Commodities Focus podcast looks at the country’s oil refineries as they grapple with the fast-changing process of energy transition, including shifting government targets, shrinking diesel demand, the rise of sustainable aviation fuel, and unrelenting competitive pressure from giant refiners around the world. In this new instalment of the Commodities Focus podcast focusing on UK energy policy, Nick Coleman, senior editor for oil news, is joined by managing editor for downstream oil news Robert Perkins, senior analyst for global oil markets Rebeka Foley, and downstream oil news reporter Kelly Norways.  

The expansion in the Indian steel manufacturing capacity comes at an opportune moment for the industry as the country has witnessed massive infrastructure projects like construction of national highways over the past few years. Now, with the general elections underway in the country and if the incumbent government comes back to power, the thrust on infrastructure would likely receive continued boost on account of policy continuity.    Even though India has unseated Japan as the second largest producer of steel in the world over the past few years, steel production is quite a capital-intensive business, and a large chunk of production costs is driven by prices of raw materials. In such a scenario, the question arises if the Indian steel sector is comfortably placed in terms of having access to conventional and non-conventional raw materials going ahead.  In this discussion, Anirudh Iyer, steel and raw materials is joined byKeith Tan, associate regional pricing director for Asia metals, Rohan Somwanshi, managing editor for global agriculture and metals news and Paul Barthomolew, lead analyst for metals and mining, to share their views on what lies ahead for the Indian steel sector.

The rice markets in Asia have seen new trends emerging with Indonesia importing rice, and India putting restrictions on their rice exports. Ripple effects have been felt in other major growing rice growing countries such as Pakistan and Thailand. In this Commodities Focus episode, Elizabeth Thang, Managing Editor for Food and Agriculture is joined by three rice experts from S&P Global Commodity Insights, Tanya Rana and Elvis John, associate editors with the agriculture markets and Mugunthan Kesavan, Engagement lead for food and agriculture to discuss some key questions—how the markets are reacting to Indonesia’s return to the market as an importer, what the industry is anticipating about the rice export ban in India ahead of elections in the country, and more.

As a UK general election looms, energy security and the transition to net-zero are high on the agenda. In this episode of the Commodities Focus podcast, our experts sift through the policy options, from windfall taxes to licensing bans, and discuss why they matter, not just for the UK, but for Europe and beyond. Nick Coleman, senior editor for oil news, is joined by Gethin Baker, senior technical research analyst specialising in the North Sea, and Stuart Elliott, news reporter focusing on the UK and European gas markets. Links: Energy Security Sentinel  PCAAS00 Dated Brent GTFTX00 Dutch TTF Eur/MWh Day Ahead

Gas operators are cutting spending and scaling back production in response to low prices in 2024, but new LNG facilities bring hope for future price improvements. The podcast discusses challenges faced by gas operators, drilling efficiencies, production cuts, and strategies for future market demand. It also explores the impact of infrastructure delays on gas production levels, LNG demand projections, and growth prospects in key basins for 2024.