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Baltic Dry Index falls to 631, down 11 points.
Today, Friday, May 06 2016, 2016, the Baltic Dry Index decreased by 11 points, reaching 631 points.Baltic Dry Index is compiled by the London-based Baltic Exchange and covers prices for transported cargo such as coal, grain and iron ore. The index is based on a daily survey of agents all over the world. Baltic Dry hit a temporary peak on May 20, 2008, when the index hit 11,793. The lowest level ever reached was on Wednesday the 10th of February 2016, when the index dropped to 290 points. Source: Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide Wheat faces biggest weekly loss in 6 months Chicago wheat was on track on Friday for its biggest weekly decline since November as a crucial crop tour is forecasting higher-than-expected yields across the U.S. Plains, adding pressure on an already amply supplied market. Corn faced its biggest weekly loss in nine months, while soybeans are set to fall after three straight weekly gains. Wheat crop prospects in Kansas, the top U.S. producer of the grain, are well above average as crop-saving rains last month should more than offset the impact of an earlier drought, scouts on an annual tour said on Thursday. “The U.S. hard red winter wheat market was headed for indigestion at harvest anyway,” said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, commenting on a market that already has a sizeable surplus. “The indigestion will be well worse if these forecasts are realised.” The scouts on the three-day Kansas wheat crop tour estimated the average yield at 48.6 bushels per acre (bpa), topping last year’s U.S. Department of Agriculture estimate of 37.0 bpa and a five-year Kansas tour average of 39.3 bpa. Adding to the bearish picture, the USDA on Thursday said that weekly old-crop export sales of wheat totalled just 178,900 tonnes, down from 351,800 tonnes a week ago. New-crop wheat export sales of 140,000 tonnes fell below market forecasts. More at the link Soaring U.S. Gasoline Demand Isn’t Enough to Stop Supply Glut The biggest increase in U.S. gasoline demand in almost 40 years hasn’t been enough to keep storage tanks from filling up. Gasoline imports into the U.S. East Coast are near the highest in seven months and American refiners have maximized gasoline output as diesel margins falter. That’s helped push inventories in the region up by 3.68 million barrels over the past two weeks to the highest seasonal level in three decades, during a period when supplies typically decline. Refiners across the U.S. had been flying high on cheap oil and strong demand, pumping out fuel at record rates and reaping healthy margins. Now, a 67 percent rally in crude since mid-February has increased costs, while tankers sailing from Europe and elsewhere are flooding New York Harbor, the delivery point for futures contracts. Profits for processing crude into gasoline have fallen for six days in a row to $18.66 a barrel, down $2.99 from a week ago, based on futures prices. “We have to start drawing inventories at some point, otherwise the margin situation is going to deteriorate pretty quickly,” said Sam Margolin, lead analyst at Cowen & Co. If inventories build for another six to eight weeks, “at some point runs are going to be cut.” More at the link China helps to bolster steel price China is among the contributors to bolster steel price in the global market, according to a press conference held today by the Ministry of Commerce. Shen Danyang, a spokesman at the ministry, said China participated in the progress as the government has taken unprecedented efforts to cut supply and seek ways to expand domestic demand. Price of steel in the global market has surged 20 percent from US$305 per ton at the year’s beginning to US$365 per ton in April. The State Council, China’s cabinet announced in February that China plans to reduce steel production by 150 million tons over the next five years as the country aims to streamline its heavy industry. “Apart from limits on capacity, we are taking comprehensive measures to expand domestic demand for steel,” said Shen, adding that lots of China’s infrastructure constructions are still in progress to boost the needs for steel. Source: Shanghai Daily Posted by: badanov 2016-05-07 |
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