Coal production in North Dakota dropped 8% in 2019
Coal production in North Dakota dropped 8% in 2019, compared to the prior year. The state’s five coal mines produced 27.2 million tons of lignite, according to a trade group. The Lignite Energy Council says the reduction was mainly due to major outages at various power plants and maintenance at the Great Plains Synfuels Plant. The council represents lignite producers, electric utilities and about 250 industry-related businesses. “The lower tonnage in 2019 also resulted partially from electricity produced from other sources including natural gas, wind generation and the Garrison Dam, which put pressure on lignite-based power plants in the state,” Jason Bohrer, the council’s president and CEO, told . North Dakota has seven lignite-based power plants, which consist of 12 individual units. Normally, each unit has a major outage every three years. Coal production in North Dakota has held steady over the past decade despite the national decline of the coal industry.
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Dairy sector hopes to attract Rs 60,000 cr, create 10 mn jobs over 5 years
The country’s dairy sector hopes to see up to Rs 60,000 crore of new investment and creation of 10 million jobs in five years, in the wake of the Union Budget proposals. The finance minister had announced a target of doubling the annual milk processing capacity to 106 million tonnes, from the existing 53 million tonnes (or from 140 million litres a day to 300 million) in five years. “To process this massive capacity, the industry requires between Rs 20 and 40 crore investment for every 100,000 litres of processing. Thus, the sector would attract a fresh investment of at least Rs 60,000 crore. As every 100,000 litres of milk production creates 6,000 new jobs, the sector will see 10 million new jobs by 2025,” said R S Sodhi, managing director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, holder of the Amul brand.
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Guyana’s economic growth jumps as oil production soars
The economic fortunes of Guyana, with a population of only around 800,000, are poised for a major transformation after its first-ever oil development commenced production just six weeks ago. Offshore oil production is expected to grow rapidly in the years to come and will generate unprecedented revenues for the Guyanese government.
“Since the initial discovery in 2015 of the giant Liza oil field in the prolific Stabroek block, Guyana has discovered more than eight billion barrels of oil resources,” says Sonya Boodoo, Vice President of Upstream Research at Rystad Energy. “Liza was brought on stream in December and many more fields will follow suit in due course. Guyana’s rising oil revenues will make a huge difference in the continued development of the country. At the same time, in order for Guyana to realize the full potential of these resources, a stable regulatory and fiscal environment will be a key factor.”
Rystad Energy forecasts that Guyana’s oil production could reach 1.2 million barrels per day by the end of the decade, lifting total annual oil revenues to about $28 billion, assuming an oil price of about $65 per barrel. Government income in the country – projected to be a modest $270 million or so in 2020 – is forecast to grow rapidly and could reach nearly $10 billion annually within a decade. Putting that figure into context, Guyana’s gross domestic product currently stands at about $3.7 billion.
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Iron ore outlook bearish as steel demand seen weak on coronavirus
The outlook for iron ore is negative with steel demand seen weak due to the coronavirus, overshadowing recent supply tightness out of Brazil, according to market sources contacted over the past few days.
The only new factor pointing to possible further tightness is a storm off the north of West Australia’s coast that is seen as likely to develop into tropical cyclone Damien, which is likely to head toward the Pilbara coast and the Walcott and Dampier ports, key loading centers for iron ore.
Although the current situation still remains highly volatile with estimates of the exact storm path and strength still largely unclear, any impact on loading schedules could place further strain on supplies that have already been tightened due to the monsoon season in Brazil.
Prices are still falling, with the SGX March TSI iron ore swap at $77.95/dmt as of 3:30 pm Singapore time, down $2.85/dmt from Tuesday 5.30 pm.
With no clear forecasts on when the virus may be contained, helping construction activity to pick up, end-users are likely to keep lowering production rates or use cheaper iron ore to cut costs, market sources said.
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Gold, silver on support
After Thursday’s ugly sell-off in the metals, both gold and silver are sitting on support. This morning, both are slightly lower. The big difference between the two is gold is still in an uptrend while silver is in a downtrend.
We would expect a bounce in both followed by a continued rally in gold and a failure in silver. The patterns are clear and for now the spread between gold and silver should widen. We expect gold to test the recent highs and silver to test the $17 level based on March futures.
Now that it appears there is a solution for the coronavirus, the fear trades are over, and we should see the longer-term patterns trade. Gold looks to continue the rally and silver the sell-off. For now, there is no expectation for the recent patterns to change.
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Indian sugar production falls by 26%
India’s sugar mills produced 3.232 million tonnes of sugar, white value, in the second half of January, up from 3.085 mln in the first half but sharply below the 3.819 mln tonnes produced in the same period last year, Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) data showed.