OIL PRICES SLUMP ON RISE IN US OUTPUT
Oil prices fell by more than 1 percent on Friday, with US crude futures dipping below $45 per barrel as news of a rise in US production added to earlier reports that OPEC output was also on the rise.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading down 61 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $47.50 per barrel by 0638 GMT on Friday.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $44.94 per barrel, down 58 cents, or 1.3 percent.
News of the production rise outweighed positive sentiment from falling crude and gasoline inventories in the United States.
“Oil prices were initially stronger of the back of the better-than-expected drawdown in inventories … However, the exuberance was short-lived, as the market turned its attention to another increase in US production,” ANZ bank said on Friday.
US crude inventories fell by 6.3 million barrels in the week to June 30, to 502.9 million barrels, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Gasoline stocks declined by 3.7 million barrels, to 237.3 million barrels.
The data suggested strong demand in the United States, but this was offset by a 1-percent rise in weekly US oil production to 9.34 million barrels per day (bpd). Since mid-2016, that’s an increase of more than 10 percent.
The rising US output comes as supplies from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) climbed for a second month in a row in June, according to Thomson Reuters Oil Research, despite OPEC’s pledge to hold back production between January this year and March 2018.
OPEC exported 25.92 million barrels per day (bpd) in June, 450,000 bpd more than in May and 1.9 million bpd more than a year earlier.
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GAZPROM CONFIDENT OF $400BN CHINESE GAS SUPPLY
Snaking across the forests, swamps and permafrost of eastern Siberia, Gazprom’s 3,000km-long pipeline is inching its way to the Chinese border to seal a $400 billion gas pact that will bind together the world’s largest energy exporter and consumer.
The Power of Siberia gas pipeline, the first to connect Russia and China, will start pumping in December 2019, Gazprom said on Tuesday, paving the way for a 30-year supply agreement of more than 1.15 trillion cubic metres of gas for the Kremlin-controlled export monopoly.
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EXPERTS SEE US CORN, SOY, SPRING WHEAT RATINGS FALLING
The US Department of Agriculture’s weekly crop progress report should show a decline in US corn, soybean and spring wheat condition ratings, according to an average of estimates by 12 analysts on Wednesday.
The report should show 66 percent of the US corn crop and 65 percent of the soybean crop rated in good to excellent condition. Both figures would be down 1 percentage point from the previous week. For spring wheat, the average estimate was 38 percent good to excellent, down from 40 percent a week earlier. Reflecting the impact of hot and dry conditions in the northern Plains spring wheat belt, the trade average is down sharply from a year ago, when the USDA rated 72 percent of the crop as good to excellent.
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EGYPT BUY 410,000 TONNES OF WHEAT
Egypt’s state grain buyer the General Authority for Supply Commodities said on Wednesday it had bought 410,000 tones of Russian and Romanian wheat in a tender. GASC bought 350,000 tonnes of Russian wheat and 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat, it said.
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PALM OIL TRACKS FUTURES HIGHER LAST MONTH OUTPUT WORRIES
Palm oil on the European vegetable oils market rose on Wednesday, tracking gains in Malaysian palm oil futures on the back of expectations for lower production during June. Palm oil output in Malaysia, the world’s second largest producer, is expected to decline or stay flat in June, due to the Ramazan and the Eidul-Fitr holiday period.
Asking prices for palm oil were between unchanged and $10 a tone higher after Malaysian palm oil futures closed between seven and 32 ringgit per tone up. At 1630 GMT, CBOT soyoil futures were between 0.11 and 0.32 cents per lb lower.
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CBOT CORN INCREASES ON CONCERNS ABOUT CROP DEVELOPMENT
Chicago Board of Trade corn futures rose on Wednesday on concerns about the health of the US crop as it heads toward pollination. Forecasts for hotter and drier weather in key growing areas in the next week sparked a round of buying.
The most actively traded corn contract has risen for seven sessions in a row, rising 12.9 percent during the streak. It was the longest streak of positive closes for corn since a stretch of equivalent length in April 2016. Analysts were expecting a US Department of Agriculture report on Wednesday afternoon to show that good-to-excellent ratings for the corn crop fell one percentage point in the latest week.
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BANGLADESH TEA RATES RISE AT WEEKLY AUCTION
Tea prices in Bangladesh rose 3.3 percent at the weekly auction amid concerns that bad weather could hit production in key producing countries.
Bangladesh tea fetched an average of 214.77 taka ($2.6) per kg at the auction on Tuesday, compared with 207.90 taka in the previous sale. Dry weather curbed tea production in key suppliers such as Kenya and India, while recent flooding in key exporter Sri Lanka could disrupt shipments from the island nation. There was strong demand for tea and buyers were ready to pay premiums, which helped prices to rally despite higher supplies than the last sale on June 20.
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IRISH MILK PRODUCTION ALMOST HITS 1BN LITRES IN MAY
Irish domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers was estimated at 997.0m litres for May 2017, according to latest figures from the CSO. This was 7.3 percent above the corresponding 2016 figure. Further growth in Irish national milk production has been forecast in 2017. According to Teagasc following the estimated 5 percent increase in production in 2016, further growth of 6 percent is forecast in 2017. The Food Harvest 2020 report forecast that milk production would increase by 50 percent by 2020 based on the average milk production during 2007-2009 (4.93 billion litres). Based on 2016 milk production of 6.67 billion litres, Ireland has increased milk production by 35pc (43pc increase based on milk solids) or over two-thirds of the targeted increase.