In late April, Evaldo Fidelis, a 35-year-old tractor operator at Vale SA’s massive iron ore mine in northern Brazil, came down with a dry cough. Soon, he said, six others in his crew of about 40 workers fell ill with classic symptoms of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel...
Commodity News
EU cuts wheat production, export outlook for 2020/21
The European Commission lowered its forecast for common wheat production in the European Union’s 27 countries in 2020/21 to 121.5 million tonnes from 125.8 million estimated a month ago. In supply and demand projections released on its website, the Commission reduced its projection of EU-27 exports...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/eu-cuts-wheat-production-export-outlook-for-2020-21/
Corn extends gains, set for biggest weekly jump in 7 months
U.S. corn futures rose for a fifth consecutive session on Friday as concerns about adverse weather impacting crops and signs of increased demand pushed the grain towards its biggest weekly gain in more than seven months. Wheat was little changed but was on course to finish the week up 1%, while...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/corn-extends-gains-set-for-biggest-weekly-jump-in-7-months/
Top China steelmakers propose expanding high-quality coking coal imports
China should control thermal coal imports and increase purchases of high-quality coking coal to meet environmental protection requirements, executives from two of the country’s biggest steel producers said this week at the National People’s Congress. Yuan Weixia from the Wuhan subsidiary of China’s...
Australia’s New Hope warns of hit from coal price slump
Australia’s New Hope Corp Ltd said on Thursday that a sudden drop in thermal coal prices and lower output from its Queensland operations would hurt its financial performance in the second half of the year. “As a result of reduced electricity demand across most global markets, thermal coal demand...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/australias-new-hope-warns-of-hit-from-coal-price-slump/
Govt may launch coal blocks auction under commercial mining on Jun 11
The Centre is likely to launch the process of auctioning coal blocks for commercial mining on June 11, pickng around 50 mines for the hammer. An official on the condition of anonymity said the “government will come out with the notice inviting tender (NIT) for auction of coal mines for sale of coal...
Dalian iron ore futures snap 3-day fall on strong steelmaking demand
Benchmark iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange snapped a three-day slump to gain as much as 2.4% on Thursday, boosted by firm demand at steel mills as construction restarts speed up amid the government’s consumption stimulus. The most actively traded September contract of iron ore...
China coal hub Shanxi to halve coal-washing capacity by Sept 2020
China’s coal mining hub of Shanxi province aims to halve its coal-washing capacity to 1.8 billion tonnes a year and reduce the number of plants involved in the process to 1,200 by end-September, the area’s energy administration said on Thursday. Shanxi pledged last year to reduce excessive capacity...
World Crude Steel Production Slumps by 13% in April
World crude steel production is estimated to have fallen by 13.0 percent, year-on-year, to 131.1 million tonnes in April, according to a recent release by the World Steel Association (worldsteel). The figure includes the output of the 64 countries that report to worldsteel – covering approximately...
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/world-crude-steel-production-slumps-by-13-in-april/
FEATURE: Sustainability may have large role in steel, metals recovery
Improving the environment and cutting emissions may continue to be a focus for metals and mining industries as economies recover from COVID-19, with greater scrap metal use, new technologies and lower coal usage likely to be the key trends. The pressure on governments and companies after global...