Coal deal hunters descend on Indonesia as demand peaks
For more than 1,200 people gathered at a hotel in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali this week the message was clear: coal is here to stay.
After two years of pandemic disruptions, Asia’s top coal industry event Coaltrans is back in Bali with a turnout that some participants say mirror those seen during the boom years about a decade ago.
Buyers all over Asia, and some from Europe, flew in to the conference to hunt for any coal supply they can secure ahead of winter, as global supply shortages and growing energy security concerns drive an unprecedented rebound in coal demand.
“Coal never went anywhere. We got another 20 years with coal, like it or not,” Ben Lawson, an executive with Sanaman Coal, said on the sideline of Coaltrans when asked if coal is back.
Changing rainfall patterns impacting India’s rice production
As India gets ready to harvest its Kharif (monsoon) crop, a rainfall deficit in parts of the country will have an impact on rice production, according to experts and environmentalists.
India has two major sowing seasons – Kharif and Rabi. While rice is grown in the Kharif season (June-October), the other crops, or Rabi crops, are grown as winter approaches around October-November.
According to environmentalists in India, climate change is leading to changes in rainfall patterns in the country, which will impact the country’s overall crop production this year.
India’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said last week that the likely shortfall in the production of paddy for the 2022 Kharif season is approximately six percent.
UAE accelerates plan to increase its oil production capacity
The United Arab Emirates is accelerating a plan to raise its oil production capacity, according to people familiar with the matter, as it tries to cash in on its crude reserves before the world transitions to cleaner energy.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc), which pumps almost all the UAE’s oil, wants to be able to produce 5 million barrels a day by 2025, according to the people. That’s sooner than a previously disclosed aim of 2030.
The new target will be difficult to achieve and may increase the expense of a project that was already set to cost billions of dollars, the people said. Adnoc and the UAE government initially planned to bring the objective forward to 2027, before deciding on 2025, they said.
The UAE is pushing to sell more oil and natural gas while fossil fuel prices stay high. Oil soared to $120 barrel following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While it’s slumped since June to around $90 amid concerns about a global economic slowdown, it’s still far above the UAE’s production costs.
Kuwait aims to boost natural gas output and ‘can raise’ oil production if required
Kuwait is planning to boost its natural gas production to cater to growing domestic demand and can also increase oil output if required in the market, according to senior executives.
State-owned Kuwait Oil Company, a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, is seeking to ramp up natural gas production, Reuters quoted KOC’s acting chief executive Khaled Al Otaibi as saying at an event on Sunday.
“With the world recovering from the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for oil and gas returned to its pre-pandemic levels in 2019,” he said.
“In this high prices environment, the company is determined to increase its natural gas production in line with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s strategy to meet the domestic demand for energy.”
Sugar prices fall on forecast for higher sugar production
October NY world sugar #11 (SBV22) on Monday closed down -0.19 (-1.06 percent), and Dec London white sugar #5 (SWZ22) did not trade Monday with markets closed in the UK for the Queen’s funeral.
NY sugar on Monday fell for the fourth consecutive session and posted a 1-1/2 month low. Sugar prices came under pressure Monday after researcher StoneX projected Brazil Center-South 2023/24 sugar production would climb +5.7 percent y/y to 35.2 MMT. StoneX also projects that global 2023/24 sugar production will climb +3 percent y/y to 194.4 MMT on rising supplies from Brazil, India, and Thailand. In addition, StoneX predicts a 2022/23 global sugar surplus of 3.9 MMT.
Last Tuesday, NY sugar posted a 5-week high after Unica reported that Brazil’s Center-South sugar crop output in the 2022/23 marketing year through Aug was down -10.5 percent y/y to 21.77 MMT.
This summer’s hot and dry weather in Europe, the world’s third-largest sugar producer, caused smaller sugar beet yields and lower sugar production, which is bullish for sugar prices. Czarnikow Group predicts sugar output in the European Union (EU) and the UK should total 16.4 MMT this year, about 1 MMT lower than last year, which means the EU may have to import more sugar than usual.
Kazakhstan suspends wheat, flour export quotas
Kazakhstan has formally suspended its wheat and wheat flour export quotas as of Sept. 13, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network report from the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture.
Since the restrictions went into effect on April 14, Kazakhstani exporters utilized 83 percent of the wheat and 66 percent of the wheat flour export quotas, which were meant to balance exports with domestic food security needs. On June 15, Kazakhstan announced the extension of wheat and wheat flour export quotas until Sept. 30 and increased the exportable amounts to 1.55 million tonnes of wheat and 670,000 tonnes of wheat flour.
Initial reports of a good fall grain harvest helped the government decide to end the export restrictions. According to the agriculture ministry, almost 70 percent of Kazakhstan’s grain crops have been harvested as of Sept. 13, with yields so far estimated to be at least 30 percent higher than last year.