What should commodities markets look for in European automotive data?
S&P Global Platts specialists take a look at what developments in the European automobile industry might mean for metals, plastics and fuels.
Feb 15, 2019•12 min
Commodities Focus
S&P Global Commodity Insights analysis of key news and pricing issues from across the global shipping, natural gas, power, petrochemicals, agriculture, and coal markets.
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Episodes
Major factors to influence Brazil's sugar and ethanol markets in 2019
Brazilian sugar and ethanol price specialists Nicolle Monteiro de Castro and Phillip Herring discuss the primary drivers of supply and demand that will affect Brazilian sugar and ethanol markets in 2019. Topics include the sugar/ethanol mix of the 2018-19 Center-South crop, the price parity between...
Feb 06, 2019•14 min
Baltic Sea Handysize tanker rates at record highs
S&P Global Platts editor Peter Farrell and senior pricing specialist Arthur Richier discuss the state of the dirty and clean Handysize tanker markets in the Baltic Sea, and how low availability of ice-class tonnage and port restrictions at this time of the year have buoyed rates up to record...
Feb 05, 2019•7 min
Polar vortex, shutdown weigh heavy on US gasoline demand
S&P Global Platts analysts think US gasoline demand will take a hit from the subzero weather in much of the country. And then there are the federal employee who just got back in their cars for work. Jeff Bair and Seth Clare look at a topsy-turvy winter for gasoline demand and how the market...
Feb 01, 2019•8 min
S&P Global Platts launches Latin American corn assessment as exports gain global relevance
Argentina and Brazil are growing in importance as exporters of corn, with global buyers now having one eye on crop development in Argentina and the other on the second crop planting in Brazil. Join Sophie Byron, senior managing editor for the Americas agriculture pricing team, and Rafael Savoia,...
Jan 31, 2019•6 min
China's industrial policies shift global aluminum scrap trade, push prices down
Aluminum trade had a big year in 2018, and while US tariffs got a lot of media attention, China also took action that has impacted nonferrous scrap trade and prices worldwide. Scrap dealers and secondary aluminum smelters in the US, Mexico and Asia have had to grapple with these changes, and will...
Jan 25, 2019•16 min
Soybean export markets hold breath on US-China updates
Soybean markets are holding their breath while the US and China discuss a possible resolution of the trade war that shook global trade flows in 2018. As tentative signs of reconciliation begin to emerge, US farmers still hold large stocks of beans while they start planning the coming season....
Jan 23, 2019•17 min
How fears of a US recession could impact spending in the US natural gas midstream sector
S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber and Americas natural gas managing editor Joe Fisher discuss the outlook for the US midstream sector as fourth-quarter 2018 earnings reporting season begins, from the appetite for further major pipeline projects to the markets that will be...
Jan 16, 2019•12 min
IMO 2020: Evolution of the refining landscape
Jason Silber, global head of Platts Ocean Intelligence, is joined by Janet McGurty, senior oil writer at S&P Global Platts, and Richard Joswick, head of oil pricing and trade flow analytics for S&P Global Platts Analytics, to discuss the refining landscape as the marine industry faces an...
Jan 15, 2019•27 min
Oil market fundamentals: What's driving price sentiment in 2019?
The global oil market has seen major price volatility over recent months and the start of 2019 has proved equally rousing with prices on track to post their biggest weekly gain in over two years. With spot Brent trading over $60/b, the oil market remains acutely focused on the complex balancing act...
Jan 11, 2019•16 min
Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas link on track despite EU regulation risk
Russia's controversial Nord Stream 2 and Turk Stream natural gas pipeline projects are still on track to come online at the end of this year, despite risks of EU regulation and US sanctions. The 55 Bcm/year link to Germany and 31.5 Bcm/year link to Turkey could between them cover almost all the 87...
Jan 08, 2019•8 min
The numbers behind Trump's talk of cheaper gasoline in 2019
There's a kernel of truth behind President Donald Trump's tweet on cheap gasoline. S&P Global Platts editors Seth Clare and Jeff Bair look at the fundamentals behind Trump's Twitter prediction that gasoline will take a lower budget bite in 2019. Related content S&P Global Platts Analytics:...
Jan 02, 2019•10 min
As US-China trade war simmers, impacts felt across many commodities
The US-China trade war has taken a number of twists and turns since July 6, when the US and China put into place 25% tariffs on $34 billion of each other's goods. Most recently the two sides agreed to a 90-day truce, during which both sides will refrain from increasing or introducing any new...
Dec 21, 2018•31 min
The fast dismantling of the Venezuelan HBI industry: lack of pellets, credit and confidence
The number of factors hampering trade of Venezuelan HBI seems unlimited, and its relevance to the global industry is disappearing as it has been working at much-reduced rates for years. Moreover, reduced steel production and raw material demand from its main consumers -- Italy and Turkey -- may...
Dec 19, 2018•10 min
Trade tensions, megatrends, and sustainability in European petrochemicals
Trading relationships are top on the minds of many in Europe, especially with the evolving trade tensions between China and the US, and Brexit. In the longer term however, population megatrends, feedstock developments, and innovative technologies underpin growth in the industry, with sustainability...
Dec 18, 2018•10 min
Rally in natural gas prices, lower storage throws uncertainty into US winter power outlook
The recent rise in natural gas prices, combined with lower gas storage and a late November cold snap, has added some uncertainty to the US winter power outlook. S&P Global Platts editors Eric Janssen, Kassia Micek and Tyler Godwin discuss the major issues in a roundtable discussion led by...
Dec 13, 2018•14 min
European natural gas market faces key first quarter period
The European natural gas market has seen some dramatic changes year on year so far during the final quarter of 2018, with pricing seen volatile after crashing recently with multi-year highs seen at the beginning of the Winter 2018/19 season. In this podcast, S&P Global Platts European gas team...
Dec 13, 2018•10 min
Gasoline keeps flowing from US refineries despite a huge cut to profits
Why would a refiner keep making gasoline at a loss? That's the situation facing US companies with gasoline cracks dipping into negative numbers against major US and European crude grades. Jeff Bair and Seth Clare of the US gasoline team break down the numbers and take look at what analysts are...
Dec 11, 2018•11 min
What impact will the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine have on Azov Sea ports?
An escalation in tension between Russia and Ukraine following the seizure of three Ukrainian vessels by Russia in the Azov Sea could mean a change to market dynamics. In this podcast S&P Global Platts commodities specialists explore what it could mean for those who use Russian and Ukrainian...
Nov 27, 2018•8 min
Atlantic dry freight: Have Q4 expectations fallen short?
Market expectations for Q4 were sky-high, but has the dry bulk sector delivered on its Q3 promise? S&P Global Platts Sam Eckett and Arthur Richier discuss how geopolitical challenges have affected different commodities around the Atlantic Basin, and how freight rates have been impacted as a...
Nov 27, 2018•13 min
European styrene loses close to third of value in 1.5 months amid fractious year
S&P Global Platts European styrene editor Olu Shaw joins EMEA petrochemicals managing editor Ng Baoying to assess the European styrene market, which has lost close to a third of its value in the two months to mid-November, from $1,422/mt mid-August, to $979.50/mt. While some sources consider...
Nov 14, 2018•9 min
US Gulf Coast crude exports -- a sea change to dirty tanker markets
The US Gulf Coast has become the new crude export hub in the Americas. Brazil and USGC crude exports combined have transformed the VLCC runs from the Americas to the Asia-Pacific region into a front-haul market, attracting ballasters from as far away as Singapore. In recent weeks shipping cost on...
Nov 05, 2018•7 min
Voters taking on the tax man in US midterm elections
California voters are about to have the chance to ditch a recently passed increase in their gasoline tax. Is there a chance that they will vote against their self-interest and in favor of the greater good? Plus, does a tax really push gasoline demand one way or another? Jeff Bair and native...
Oct 31, 2018•13 min
Spiking trans-Atlantic freight rates hamper flows of US crude to Europe
US crude exports to Europe have declined in the past few weeks as the cost to move barrels across the Atlantic has risen. US crude editor Laura Huchzermeyer joins Americas crude oil managing editor John-Laurent Tronche to discuss this recent run-up in prices, and how the market is adapting to...
Oct 30, 2018•4 min
IMO 2020: Challenge and opportunity for shipowners
The International Maritime Organization has mandated bunker sulfur limits to drop to 0.5% sulfur on January 1, 2020, from 3.5% sulfur currently. Regardless of the compliance option shipowners choose, the global sulfur mandate will increase freight cost tremendously. Noteworthy is a huge uptick in...
Oct 24, 2018•9 min
An atypical year for Brazilian steel: Price hikes, slow recovery and presidential elections
The pricing power of domestic mills in Brazil was built on strengthening Chinese steel prices over the past few months, putting Brazilian steel products near discounts against imported material. Historically, sustainable import parity premiums for domestic flats and longs over imported goods were...
Oct 19, 2018•6 min
European paraxylene market transforms amid global fundamental shifts
The European paraxylene market is seeing significant changes this year as fundamental shifts in global demand and supply yield opportunities and challenges for the region. The start-up of a new downstream PTA plant in Portugal has placed the region in a net short position, and Europe will now have...
Oct 19, 2018•8 min
US power markets brace for winter
North American power pricing specialists Kelli Ainsworth, Kassia Micek and Jeff Zhou, all based in Houston, look back on how US power markets fared over the summer, where ERCOT markets sizzled out, but California markets reached decade high prices. Kelli, Kassia and Jeff also turn their attention...
Oct 10, 2018•9 min
Is blending biofuel in the bunker fuel pool a viable alternative to installing scrubbers?
As the bunkering industry gears up for the International Maritime Organization's tighter sulfur emission standards from 2020 onward, is the blending of biofuels a viable way to reduce emissions? S&P Global Platts senior biofuel specialist George Griffiths and fuel oil associate editor Emma...
Oct 02, 2018•6 min
Trump's steel tariffs and their impact on the US energy sector
When US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on steel imports earlier this year, the impacts went far beyond that industry, with ripple effects for crude oil, natural gas, LNG export projects and petrochemicals. S&P Global Platts editors Michael Fitzgerald, Kristen Hays, Starr Spencer and...
Sep 27, 2018•36 min
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