The state of French soft wheat crops declined slightly last week to remain at their worst in four years, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday, as fields remained soggy after a wet winter in the European Union’s biggest grain producer. Some 66% of French soft wheat was rated as being...
Commodity News
China lithium boom slows as sagging prices batter high-cost miners
A slump in the price of lithium, a key raw material in electric car batteries, is dragging on China’s mining of the ultralight metal which together with a costly extraction process is prompting a reassessment of output growth and new project plans. Softening EV demand has knocked down global...
Australian farmers should favour wheat over canola as margins recover, Rabobank says
Australian farmers should make significantly more money on their crops in 2024/25 than in the previous season thanks to a drop in fertiliser and chemical prices, with plantings likely to favour wheat over less profitable canola, Rabobank said on Thursday. Australia is one of the world’s biggest...
Smaller German 2024 wheat and rapeseed crops forecast
Germany’s 2024 wheat crop will fall 6.5% on the year to 20.14 million metric tons, the country’s association of farm cooperatives said in its first harvest estimate on Thursday. The association forecast Germany’s 2024 winter rapeseed crop will fall 6.9% from last year’s crop to 3.93 million tons....
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/smaller-german-2024-wheat-and-rapeseed-crops-forecast/
LME copper slips on uncertainty over China smelter cuts
Copper prices in London eased on Thursday, retreating from an 11-month peak as doubts emerged over plans by Chinese smelters to cut output while demand in the top metals consumer remained lacklustre. Three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange slipped 0.4% to $8,888 a metric ton in...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/lme-copper-slips-on-uncertainty-over-china-smelter-cuts/
Russia’s IKAR agricultural consultancy: 2024/25 grain crop at 145 m t – Ifax
Russia’s IKAR agricultural consultancy said that it expects Russia’s 2024/25 grain crop to be 147 million metric tons, of which 93 million tons would be wheat, Russian news agency Interfax reported on Thursday. The figures are up from 2023/24, when the grain harvest was forecast at 144 million...
China’s top copper smelters agree to production cut amid raw material tightness, sources say
Chinese top smelters agreed in a meeting on Wednesday to cut production at some loss-making plants to cope with a shortage of raw material, two sources close to the matter said. The meeting comes as copper concentrate fees on the spot market dropped to their lowest in more than a decade, hurting...
Tin supply trapped in resource nationalism squeeze: Andy Home
It’s no coincidence that nickel and tin are the two strongest performers in the London Metal Exchange (LME) base metals pack so far this year. Supply in both markets is dominated by Indonesia, where production and exports are being affected by delays in approving annual work permits. This is a...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/tin-supply-trapped-in-resource-nationalism-squeeze-andy-home/
The Commodities Feed: Copper surges to 11-month high
Metals – Copper rallies as Chinese smelters weigh output cuts Copper rallied to its highest level seen in 11 months yesterday as major smelters in China pledged to control capacity. Executives from 19 smelters have agreed to re-arrange maintenance work, reduce runs and delay the startup of new...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/the-commodities-feed-copper-surges-to-11-month-high/
Russian wheat knocks down global prices as grain stockpiles mount
Russia is flooding the global market with cheap wheat as the world’s No. 1 supplier draws down inventories ahead of an expected bumper harvest, easing food inflation for importers but intensifying competition for rival exporters. Prices of U.S. Wv1 and European wheat BL2K4 have dropped to their...