Base metals, from aluminum to zinc, are the focus of attention at the annual LME Asia Week in Hong Kong. Electric cars, which are set to replace gasoline-guzzling cars in coming decades, will end up using significant amounts of energy themselves. And Russian natural gas still dominates Europe.
As the week begins, here are five charts to watch in global commodity markets.
Natural gas
Europe is quickly diversifying away from pipelined Russian gas, but imports of the fuel carried by tankers remain strong. Countries such as France, Spain and Belgium have increased their purchases of Russian liquefied natural gas since Moscow began the Ukraine war. This comes in part as Europe seeks to buy more LNG from the global market. The European Union allows the import of Russian LNG to ensure security of supply, despite banning transshipment of cargoes at its ports that are destined for consumers in other countries such as China and India.
pork
China’s threat to impose tariffs on EU pork is the last thing the EU’s beleaguered pork industry needs. Chinese investigations into the industry could result in the EU being shut out of the world’s largest pork import market. EU exports overall have fallen in recent years as African swine fever, rising input costs and falling consumption have hit European pork production, but China remains a major buyer.
metal
Base metals have been performing well for several months after a period of relatively weak prices, but what happens next may depend on China. As the world’s largest consumer of everything from copper to aluminum to zinc, Chinese consumption has been unusually weak in contrast to bullish global sentiment. The six-metal LMEX index has been trading weaker since hitting a multi-year high in May, and sustaining this year’s gains may depend on Chinese demand recovering. That’s the key question for traders, investors and buyers at LME Asia Week.
EV
Going all-electric by 2050 is essential to meeting the Paris Agreement’s net-zero climate change goals. In its latest Long-Term Electric Vehicle Outlook, BloombergNEF estimates that future EV fleets could require 8.3 petawatt-hours of electricity per year by then. That’s more than 10% of projected global electricity demand at mid-century and 50 times what the global EV fleet consumed last year. Even in BNEF’s more conservative energy transition scenario, EV power demand is projected to exceed 5 petawatt-hours in 2050, exceeding U.S. electricity consumption last year.
oil
All three major oil forecasting agencies — the International Energy Agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries — expect oil demand growth to be stronger in the second half of 2024 than in the first half. But that’s where their agreement ends: Producer groups see consumption growing twice as fast as consumer groups. The divergence comes amid bullish signs for oil demand, fueled by robust U.S. gasoline consumption during the summer driving season and a resurgence in air travel that’s bringing a seasonal rise in jet fuel.
With assistance from Julian Lee and Doug Alexander.
This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
3.6 crore Indians visited us in a single day and chose us as their platform for Indian general election results. Check out the latest updates here!
