Venezuela’s oil production grows
Venezuela’s oil production is growing at a crucial time, with conflict in the Middle East disrupting traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, thereby crimping global petroleum supply. Since the U.S. captured President Nicolas Maduro in a daring night raid in early January 2026, Venezuela’s petroleum output has soared to multiyear highs. Recent regulatory reforms, the easing of U.S. sanctions and greater foreign investment are all key to reviving Venezuela’s struggling petroleum sector and increasing oil output in what was once South America’s top-producing country.
OPEC data from secondary sources shows Venezuela pumped just over one million barrels per day during June 2026. This represents an impressive 17.6 percent increase over 2025, although it is less than half of the 2.1 million barrels lifted for the same month a decade earlier. Indeed, the collapse of Venezuela’s once mighty petroleum sector didn’t begin in earnest until late 2018 as lower oil prices and then stricter U.S. sanctions hit the country’s oil industry hard.
Balochistan govt orders inquiry
The Balochistan government has ordered a high-level inquiry into the deadly coal mine disaster in Sorange that claimed the lives of 34 miners, assigning the investigation to the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team (CMIT) to determine the causes of the tragedy and identify those responsible.
On the directives of Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti, the CMIT, headed by its chairman Bashir Ahmed Bangulzai, will conduct an on-site investigation into the July 30 accident.
The inquiry has been tasked with establishing the actual cause of the incident, reviewing the performance of the relevant authorities, fixing responsibility for any negligence, and proposing measures to prevent similar accidents in the future.
Russia’s dairy sector hit by falling rates and weaker investment
An oversupply of raw milk pushed farmgate prices down by 23 percent during this period, leaving processors with mounting inventories and a drop in profits, according to newspaper Kommersant.
Only 109 new dairy companies were registered in Russia between January and May 2026, which is 45 percent fewer than in the same period a year earlier, states data from business registry Rusprofile.
The number of active milk production and dairy processing companies in Russia stood at 33,500 on 1 June, down 26.4 percent year on year, said the newspaper, citing publicly available data.
Industry executives attribute the slowdown in investment to a combination of weaker government support and persistently high borrowing costs.
The dairy industry has become significantly less attractive for new investments as subsidised lending has dwindled, Artem Belov, chief executive of Russia’s National Union of Milk Producers Soyuzmoloko said.
While dairy producers were able to secure preferential loans at annual interest rates of 2-3 percent several years ago, they now face rates ranging from 6.3 percent to 9.1 percent, he said.
Mid-year updates from main uranium producers
Kazakhstan’s national atomic company said its production on both a 100 percent basis (that is, the entirety of production of the entities in which the company has an interest) and attributable basis (that is, Kazatomprom’s share of the total production once joint venture partners and other third-party shareholders have been accounted for) was higher in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, due to a higher 2026 production plan, in line with its guidance and Subsoil Use Agreements’ requirements for the year. Kazatomprom’s production of 13,291 tonnes of uranium (tU) on a 100 percent basis was 9 percent up on the 12,242 tU produced in the same period in 2025.
FAS: smaller Canadian wheat crop
A decline in planted area is expected to reduce Canadian wheat production by 13 percent over the previous year, according to the latest forecast from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture.
The agency projected wheat output in the 2026-27 marketing year, which began Aug. 1, at 34.6 million tonnes, down from last year’s record harvest of 39.9 million tonnes.
“Spring wheat planting faced setbacks in the Prairie Provinces, where most of Canada’s spring wheat is grown, due to above-average rainfall and lingering cold temperatures,” the FAS said. “Subsequently, emergence was also delayed. The consequences of late planting include the potential of reduced overall yields, and increased risk of fall frost damage.”
Despite the planting and emergence delays, local crop reports noted that as of June 29, 23 percent of the spring wheat crop in Saskatchewan was rated in excellent condition, 68 percent was in good condition, and 8 percent was in fair condition. However, only 70 percent of spring wheat in Alberta was rated good-to-excellent, primarily due to heavy rains in the northeast and central growing regions of that province.
Türkiye’s crude steel production increases 8.1 pc
Türkiye’s crude steel production increased 8.1 percent year-on-year to 19.8 million tons in the January-June period, according to data from the Turkish Steel Producers Association (TÇÜD).
In June, crude steel production rose 14.7 percent compared with the same month last year, reaching 3.3 million tons.
Consumption of finished steel products increased 0.4 percent year-on-year to 3.1 million tons in June. In the January-June period, consumption rose 6.6 percent to 19.9 million tons.
Türkiye’s steel product exports increased 28.4 percent year-on-year by volume in June, reaching 1.7 million tons. In value terms, exports rose 29.7 percent to $1.2 billion.
In the January-June period, steel exports increased 2.5 percent by volume compared with the same period of 2025, reaching 7.8 million tons. Their value rose 1.3 percent to $5.3 billion.