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According to the latest KNOC data, South Korea imported 2.37 mb/d in March, a 213 kb/d drop from the same month in 2011. Shipments from Iran dropped by 96 kb/d yoy to 155 kb/d as South Korea looked to reduce its imports from the sanction-hit Middle Eastern country. Iraq was the other major supplier to see its exports to Korea drop in March, with volumes falling by 67 kb/d to 241 kb/d. With South Korea turning to other MEG OPEC members to replace lower Iranian imports, primary supplier, Saudi Arabia saw exports to the Asian nation rise by 73 kb/d yoy to 817 kb/d, with imports from Kuwait rising by 91 kb/d to 314 kb/d.

In its latest projection for the 2012/13 trade year, the International Grains Council has forecast a new record for world grain trade due to strengthening milling wheat and feed grains demand. The IGC expects the combined wheat and coarse grain trade to reach 263 Mt in 2012/13 (July-June) compared with its current prediction of 260 Mt for 2011/12. The IGC also anticipates that global grain consumption in 2012/13 will rise 1.5% to a record of 1.87 billion tonnes, with grain used for livestock feed projected to rise a comparatively faster pace than food or industrial processing.

According to the latest Short Range Outlook from the World Steel Association, apparent steel use (ASU) for 2012 is set to rise 3.6% year-on-year to 1422.3 Mt after a solid growth of 5.6 % in 2011. The WSA forecasts that world ASU will increase by a further 4.5% to another new record of 1485.7 Mt in 2013. Steel consumption in China is expected to rise by 4.0% in both 2012 and 2013, while demand in the rest of world is predicted to grow by 3.2% this year and 4.8% in 2013. Worldsteel expects to see negative growth in Europe for this year, down 1.2% on 2011 to 150.9 Mt. However, the growth forecast for 2013 is set to rise 3.3%.

Today saw the start of operations at a new 325 kb/d CDU at Motiva’s Port Arthur refinery, according to a statement from Shell’s CFO, Reuters reports. The new unit takes the plant’s overall capacity to 600 kb/d, making it the largest refinery in the US. Motiva is a joint venture between Shell and Saudi Aramco.

Indian refiner, MRPL, has begun restarting units at its 300 kb/d Mangalore refinery, following a shutdown last week as a result of water shortages, Reuters reports. Units will be restarted one by one over the coming week, as the firm builds water supplies. The shutdown has forced MRPL to delay product shipments.

The latest update from the World Steel Dynamics’ SteelBenchmaker puts the world export price of hot rolled band (HRB) at $651/t, down marginally $4/t from end-March, but this was $80/t lower than the year-ago level. The US HRB domestic price continued to soften, standing at a 5-month low of $754/t. The current price for EU slipped $10/t from one month ago to $681/t. The Chinese HRB prices were unchanged at $583/t, the highest level since mid-October 2012.

Exports of Iraqi crude from the southern port of Basrah were seen reaching 2.17 mb/d in the first half of April following the start of shipments from a new single-point mooring (SPM) with a capacity of 900 kb/d, Argus reports. Exports from Basrah have averaged just 1.66 mb/d during the previous twelve months. Another 900 kb/d SPM, the second of a planned five, has just started operations, and will ensure Iraq can continue to export its rising crude output. The majority of Iraq’s additional exports have been heading to the US, with March shipments to the America’s averaging 790 kb/d, almost double the average for the preceding twelve months.

March saw a further increase in US steel imports, with a rise of 7% month-on-month to 2.6 Mt, according to data from the US Census Bureau. The March’s figure marks the highest level since October 2008. Total imports in the 1q12 rose by 29% on 4q12 to 7.7 Mt, representing the highest quarterly level since 2q07.

India’s refining output increased 1.6% year-on-year to 3.6 mb/d in March, its fifth consecutive monthly rise, as most refiners increased runs to meet financial year targets, reports Reuters. Refinery output rose an annual 3.2% to about 3.41 mb/d in the last fiscal year ending in March, when Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. and Essar Oil expanded capacity and Hindustan Mittal Energy started its 180 kb/d plant in northern India. Reliance, whose two refineries account for over a third of the country’s refining capacity, does not report data for its 580 kb/d export-focused plant. India’s crude oil output fell 2.9% on the month to 760.9 kb/d.

Chinese coal imports from Indonesia fell 29% quarter-on-quarter to 15.8 Mt in the 1q12, according to China’s Customs Statistics. Imports from Australia rose for the third consecutive quarter to 11.9 Mt, only 3.2 Mt short of the previous peak of 15.1 Mt in the 3q09. China imported 1.3 Mt of coal from US, but this was still 0.2 Mt lower than the corresponding period last year. Longer haul imports from South Africa remained at a high level of 3.8 Mt, compared with 0.9 Mt in the 1q11.

After rising for three consecutive weeks, the price of Chinese wire rod retreated by $5/t week-on-week to $676/t, according to World Steel Dynamics. Meanwhile, China’s rebar future contract prices for October delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange have slipped to their lowest in almost 7 weeks, at $678/t.

Sunoco has announced that it is to extend the deadline for finding a buyer for its 330 kb/d Philadelphia refinery by one month, from July to August, Reuters reports. The move comes as the refiner enters talks with private equity firm Carlyle Group to discuss a possible joint venture to operate the refinery. Under such a deal, Carlyle is expected to become the majority shareholder in the venture, and to manage operations at the plant. If no deal is reached by August, then Sunoco will proceed with its plan to idle the plant.

March iron ore imports from India into China were running at less than half of the year-ago pace, according to China’s customs data. China imported 4.7 Mt of iron ore in March this year from India compared with 10.6 Mt in March 2011 and 13.5 Mt in March 2010. The drop in volumes demonstrates the impact of mining restrictions and higher export taxes in India. China imported some 28.8 Mt of iron ore from Australia in March, while imports from Brazil dropped to a 5-month low of 12.4 Mt. Shipments from South Africa were 3.3 Mt, not far short of the volume imported from India last month.

South Sudan has ordered its troops to withdraw from the Heglig oil producing area, the control of which it is disputing with Sudan, Reuters reports. The Heglig fields provide around half of Sudan’s 115 kb/d of crude oil production, with the recent fighting removing 40 kb/d of the country’s output. South Sudan has shut-in production of its 350 kb/d of crude oil since January, following a dispute with its northern neighbour over pipeline transit fees.

Indian domestic diesel supplies are tightening, particularly in the south and east of the country following shutdowns at the 300 kb/d Mangalore and 60 kb/d Numaligarh refineries, Reuters reports. The Mangalore plant has been forced to cease all operations as a result of water shortages, and has declared force majeure on product deliveries. Planned maintenance at the Numaligarh plant has been brought forward following a fire over the weekend, reducing supply from here. Resulting diesel shortages have prompted one firm to look to import volumes to meet demand. BPCL is seeking a 40kt parcel for delivery at Kochi in early May. Fellow refiners, HPCL and IOC intend to use existing stockpiles to meet deliveries.

Japanese iron ore imports in March were up by 1 Mt on February to a 4-month high of 10.6 Mt, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Finance. However, the 1q12 total imports of 30.6 Mt was at the lowest quarterly level since 2q11. The decline in the amount of electricity generated by nuclear power (down 92.4% YoY to a record low of 1.53 billion kWh) led to an increase of 34.9% year-on-year in thermal power generation to 58.9 billion kWh in March, according to the Federation of Electric Power Companies. Meanwhile, Japan imported 14.9 Mt of coal. Total imports in the 1q12 rose for the third consecutive quarter, up 5% on 4q11 to 46.3 Mt.

The latest data release from the EIA shows that US commercial crude inventories rose for the fourth consecutive week, as stocks increased by a further 3.8 MB to 369.0 MB, 24 MB higher than the five year average. Crude runs at US refineries were 99 kb/d higher than a week earlier at 14.45 mb/d, but this was offset by a 196 kb/d increase in crude imports, which averaged 8.72 mb/d last week. Meanwhile, higher domestic demand and a 278 kb/d drop in imports to 427 kb/d, saw gasoline inventories drop by 3.7 MB to 214.0 MB. Distillate inventories were 2.9 MB lower last week at 129.0 MB, as export levels remained robust and domestic demand topped 4.0 mb/d for the first time in 17 weeks.

According to latest fleet data from SSY, the dry bulk carrier fleet has reached 9,000 vessels. Year-to-date newbuilding deliveries have reached 33.2 Mdwt or 392 vessels. These comprise 79 Capesizes, 122 Panamaxes, 97 Supramaxes and 94 Handysizes.

A breakdown of China’s 1q12 crude steel production by product type shows that most of this year’s increase has been driven by gains in output of long products used in construction. Production of rebar reached 39.5 Mt (+16% year-on-year), while wire rod output climbed to 30.9 Mt (+8%). These outpace the overall increase in Chinese crude steel output, which rose 2.5% to 174.2 Mt over the same period.

Argus is reporting that the start of operations at Motiva’s expanded Port Arthur refinery may now be pushed back to later in the year, after initially being expected in the first half of 2012. The expansion project will lift the plant’s capacity by 325 kb/d to 600 kb/d, with a number of upgrading units set to come online allowing the site to increase the volumes of heavy crude it processes. This is expected to come primarily from Saudi Arabia, with volumes also arriving from Brazil, Canada and Mexico. US imports of Saudi crude have already risen significantly on a yoy basis so far in 2012, with inventory building ahead of the expansion at the Motiva plant cited as one possible explanation.

The International Monetary Fund has revised up its 2012 global GDP growth forecast from 3.3% to 3.5%, also lifting its projection for the US economy (+2.1% in 2012 & +2.4% in 2013). It also expects to see higher world GDP growth in 2013 at 4.1%. Advanced economies are now forecast to grow 1.4% this year, up from the previous projection of 1.2% made in January. However, the IMF warned that Europe's debt crisis and potential risk in global oil prices still threaten the ‘fragile’ recovery. The IMF expects Eurozone GDP to contract by 0.3% this year, but expand by 0.9% in 2013. For China, the IMF has left its forecast unchanged at 8.2% this year and 8.8% in 2013.

Latest monthly data from the EIA show US crude production reached 6.09 mb/d in January, the first time volumes have been above 6 mb/d since December 1998 when it reached 6.04 mb/d, reports EnergyIntel. Domestic crude output was up from 5.97 mb/d in December 2011 and 5.53 mb/d in January 2011. This latest data confirm that production from shales and other ‘tight’ rock formations continues to drive an increase in domestic volumes, most notably in Texas and North Dakota. Texas produced 1.67 mb/d in January, its highest monthly average since November 1993 and up from 1.31 mb/d in January 2011. North Dakota displaced California as the third-biggest producing stat after Texas and Alaska with volumes of 546 kb/d.

US seaborne coal exports (excluding those to Canada) slipped 0.6 Mt to 7.2 Mt in February (4.4 Mt of coking coal and 2.8 Mt of steam coal), according to data from the US Department of Commerce. Meanwhile, trade statistics indicated a significant decline in the country’s coal imports. February saw the lowest monthly import level since end 1999, down by 32% month-on-month to only 0.5 Mt.

China's crude steel production hit a new high of 61.6 Mt in March, with an increase of 10% on February, according to data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics. Total output in the 1q12 rebounded 17.5 Mt  on 4q12, but was still 5.1 Mt lower than the peak of 179.2 Mt in the 2q11.

China’s crude refinery runs fell nearly 3% on the month in March to a five-month low of 9.04 mb/d, but remained 2% higher on the year, reports Reuters. Refiners have been running their plants at high rates since November to meet peak winter demand but the maintenance season has now started and crude throughput is expected to decline further in coming months as maintenance remains heavy due to refining losses. The country will see the 366 kb/d that was offline in March rise to 523 kb/d in April and 751 kb/d in May, before falling away to just 155 kb/d in June, reported Argus. Meanwhile, latest data indicates China’s economy grew at its weakest in nearly three years in 1q12, with GDP growth at 8.1%, down from 8.9% in 4q11.