Commodities Focus

Hydrogen is seen across all sectors of the economy, from transportation to industry, power generation and domestic heat, as a potential decarbonisation tool. Huge questions remain about the cost and route to market of low and zero carbon H2 production, and whether governments and industry are willing and able to step up and accelerate a transition to meaningful scale. This episode of the Commodities Focus podcast defines the pathways to H2 decarbonisation, explains what S&P Global Platts is doing to shed light on an opaque market and looks at emerging strategies in Europe and beyond.

With natural gas prices bumping down to record lows and supplies set to increase in the coming years, sellers of gas into Europe are keeping everything crossed that coal and nuclear closures will galvanize a new dash-for-gas in generation markets. Platts news and analytics experts compare notes on the state of the market, the outlook for pipeline and LNG supply and the prospects for new gas burn in the generation markets of Germany and Italy.

With India's domestic steel prices staging a recovery, steelmakers have shifted their focus to their home markets. However, they remain cautious about any repercussions from COVID-19, fundamentally slow demand growth, an uninspiring Union Budget, and ongoing auctions for mining leases. Will India's domestic market continue showing strength in the face of these developments? S&P Global Platts Asian Steel Markets Editor Ashima Tyagi discusses these issues and more with Head of APAC Metal Insights Paul Bartholomew.

Steel and raw materials markets have been particularly affected by the coronavirus, as two of the key demand sectors – construction and manufacturing – remain in limbo awaiting workers to return. Meanwhile, deliveries of raw materials have been held up by logistical constraints, while mills are tentatively starting to trade again. Paul Bartholomew, S&P Global Platts head of market insight for metals in Asia-Pacific is joined by Keith Tan, Platts senior managing editor, for steel and raw materials, and Niki Wang, who heads up the Platts iron ore pricing team to discuss the current market situation in China.

A little over a month into the IMO 2020 switch from 3.5% to 0.5% sulfur bunker fuels, the lifting of US sanctions on COSCO-owned tankers and dented crude oil and jet fuel demand due to the coronavirus outbreak had tanker freight take a u-turn and re-open arbitrage flows from the US Gulf Coast. Marieke Alsguth, Barbara Troner and Catherine Wood of the S&P Global Platts shipping team talk about how the first 40 days of IMO 2020 have shaped up for the Americas loading tanker markets.

From the bursting bubble of palm oil prices, to the soybean harvests of South America and the far-reaching impact of the coronavirus, the global vegetable oil markets are multi-faceted and dynamic. Join Robert Beaman, George Duke, Anu Das, Rafael Savoia and Huw Shortland to understand the complicated and fast-moving world of vegetable oils, and why prices have come under pressure in recent weeks.

The coronavirus outbreak, which has been declared by the World Health Organization as a global health emergency, is expected to slowdown economic growth in China, the world's largest crude oil, iron ore and soybean importer, and steel exporter. S&P Global Platts Analytics, Insight and Pricing teams gather to take a deep dive into the demand and price impact of the outbreak on the commodity markets.

Brazil, the largest fuel consumer in South America, has been going through many changes in fuel consumption and pricing dynamics. Since state-led oil company Petrobras started to follow the international price parity reference for gasoline and diesel, E100 hydrous ethanol consumption has started to spike due to a favorable price advantage for consumers. Brazilian drivers have shifted their consumption to the biofuel E100 and in 2019 the hydrous share in the country's energy matrix accounted for 44%, or double the share seen in 2017. The fuel market changes are continuing in Brazil, with Petrobras planning to sell eight of its 13 refineries and open up the refining market for multiple competitors.

A new decade is bringing new challenges for US power markets. The renewables buildout continues to disrupt the market in ways never seen before, mild winter weather and very weak natural gas prices have depressed power prices, and the PG&E situation is ever evolving. Kassia Micek, Mark Watson and Jeff Ryser of the Platts Americas Power Team look at the biggest stories across the US power market and what it all means for the coming months and years.

In light of the proposed Green Deal to make Europe carbon neutral by 2050, it is clear that the energy transition is on the forefront of policymakers' minds. Roman Kramarchuk and Dan Klein of S&P Global Platts Analytics put the European energy transition into a global context, and the likelihood of meeting 2-degree warming targets.