News archive May 2010

Brazil's steel exports rose by 46% month-on-month and 19% year-on-year to 0.77 Mt in April, the highest monthly volume since September 2009. This lifts the export total for the first four months to 2.6 Mt, compared with 2.0 Mt in the same period last year, according to the latest trade data.

S. Korea's crude imports dipped 0.2% yoy in April to 2.34m b/d, despite imports from top supplier Saudi Arabia jumping 21% to 794k b/d, reports Energy Intelligence. Shipments from the UAE were up 18.1% at 327k b/d, whilst those from Kuwait and Iran fell 26.1% and 11.9% to 207k b/d and 280 kb/d respectively. Volumes from Indonesia more than doubled to 107 kb/d, while Russian shipments surged 87.5% to 105 kb/d.

According to World Steel Dynamics, the world hot-rolled band price fell by $34/t (-5%) month-on-month to $684/t end-May, the lowest level since end-March. The decline in the global price was led by a monthly fall of $39/t (-7%) in China to $535/t. Meanwhile, the HRB price in the USA and the EU both slipped, down by $12/t and $14/t, respectively, to $760/t and $728/t. Despite the latest downward pressure, the world HRB price is still $288/t (+73%) above the year-ago level.

According to a preliminary trade report from the country's finance ministry, Japanese imports of crude oil increased 4.3% yoy last month, reaching an average of 4.14 mb/d, reports Bloomberg. The trade ministry has revealed that domestic demand for refined oil products in March increased 0.3% yoy, the third consecutive month of increases.

According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, US steel imports rose for the third consecutive month to 1.88 Mt in April. This represents the highest monthly import volume since January 2009. As a result, imports in the first four months reached 6.7 Mt, a rise of 10% on the corresponding period last year.

According to the latest summary from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), crude inventories increased by 2.4 Mbbl last week to 365.1 Mbbl. Crude imports rose slightly, by 99 kb/d, to an average of 9.93 mb/d, whilst crude inputs at refineries fell by 107 kb/d to an average of 15.09 mb/d. Refinery utilisation was stable at 87.8% of operable capacity, a 0.1% drop from the week before. Mogas stocks totalled 221.6 Mbbl by the end of the week, a 200 kbbl decline week on week, whilst imports increased by 266 kb/d to an average of 1.10 mb/d. Distillate inventories fell by 300 kbbl to 152.5 Mbbl, with imports increasing by 70 kb/d to an average of 253 kb/d.

Continuing fears surrounding the debt crisis in Europe saw further losses in the crude oil markets today, Reuters reports. Front month prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) were down $2.0/bbl (2.85%) to $68.21/bbl at 1016 EDT on Tuesday, although data suggesting a rise in US consumer confidence this month later prompted a slight rebound. ICE Brent saw even greater losses, falling $2.10/bbl (3.0%) to trade at $69.07/bbl by 1615 BST. Prices on the ICE have slumped in recent weeks after reaching an 18-month high of more than $87/bbl in April.

Coal imports into South Korea reached a monthly all-time high of 10.3 Mt in April, largely as a result of steam coal imports hitting a record level of 7.7 Mt, according to trade data.
Combined coal imports into South Korea for the first four months of the year were 38.3 Mt, up 6.6 Mt on the same period last year. Over this period shipments from Australia fell from 15.8 Mt in Jan-Apr 2009 to 13.5 Mt in Jan-Apr 2010, while imports from Indonesia surged by 5.8 Mt year-on-year to 14.1 Mt.

Crude exports from the former Soviet Union averaged 6.82 mb/d in April, and were unchanged from the month before, reports Argus. Black Sea exports averaged 1.02 mb/d, down 35 kb/d from March, shipments from the Baltic edged down 43 kb/d month on month to reach 1.55 mb/d, whilst loadings at Kozmino increased slightly from 295 kb/d in March to 315 kb/d last month. Shipments along the Druzhba pipeline were steady at 1.08 mb/d, but the CPC and BTC pipelines saw increases of 47 kb/d and 87 kb/d to 757 kb/d and 768 kb/d respectively.

The FOB price for iron ore with Fe-content of 63.5% fell for the fourth consecutive week, down by $22/t (-15%) week-on-week to $128/t, the lowest level since mid-March, according to data from U-Metal. This took the delivered price in China to $153/t, compared with the year-to-date high of $188/t just four weeks earlier.

The first four months of 2010 have seen China export a total of 9.50 million MT of petroleum products, a 52% increase from the same period last year. The rise comes as domestic demand fails to keep up with output from the country's refineries, the overall capacity of which has been significantly increased over the last year. Gasoline exports over the four month period totalled 2.10 million MT (up 122.9% y-o-y), diesel 1.79 million MT (up 30.1% y-o-y), and kerosene 2.01 million MT (up 16.8% y-o-y).

According to the latest data from the International Grains Council (IGC), Argentina's corn exports in April rose by 16% month-on-month to 2.12 Mt, the highest monthly volume since July 2008. This lifted the January-April total to a 25-year high of 6 Mt, compared with 3.3 Mt in the same period last year.

China's apparent oil demand averaged 8.43 mb/d in April, according to Platts, a 12.7% increase from the same month in 2009. With many units returning from maintenance, Chinese refineries processed an average of 8.41 mb/d of crude over the same period, a new record level and about a 17% increase year on year.

According to the latest data from the US Dept. of Energy, the country's crude inventories totalled 362.7 Mbbl at the end of last week, a 200 Kbbl drop from the week before. Imports increased by 142 kb/d over the same period to reach 9.83 mb/d, whilst inputs at US refineries declined 156 kb/d to 15.19 mb/d. Refineries were utilised at 87.9% of total capacity, a 0.5% drop from the week before. Meanwhile, mogas stocks increased by 700 Kbbl to 221.8 Mbbl, with imports remaining stable at an average of 836 kb/d. Distillate imports were similarly steady at 183 kb/d, whilst inventories fell by 1.0 Mbbl to 152.8 Mbbl.

Global oil demand averaged 86.05 mb/d in April, 440 kb/d less than in March, Energy Intel reports. At the same time, global supply also fell month on month, but only by 70 kb/d to 86.61 mb/d, Energy Intelligence reports. Demand is deemed to have grown 1.63 mb/d from a year earlier as the world emerges from recession, albeit at a varying rate. OECD demand remained stable year on year at 44.8 mb/d (down 1.4 mb/d from March), with a 371 kb/d y-o-y decline in Europe largely offset by US and Pacific gains. Non-OECD demand averaged 41.2 mb/d in April (up 900 kb/d from March), a 1.57 mb/d y-o-y increase. These gains were led by Chinese demand which increased by 5.7% y-o-y to almost 9 mb/d.

Asia-Pacific buyers purchased 1.53 mb/d of west African crude for May loading, a 210 kb/d decline from the April volume, Argus reports. Chinese buyers took 860 kb/d for loading this month, a 150 kb/d decrease from April, whilst Indian refiners purchased 490 kb/d, down 50 kb/d month-on-month. The declines arose from poor arbitrage economics and increasing local output.

Iron ore shipments from Port Hedland slipped by 2% month-on-month to 14.6 Mt in April. However, the April total still represents a 29% increase year-on-year, official data showed. China remained the largest destination with shipments of 10.90 Mt in April with monthly growth of 1.3 Mt. However, shipments to Japan slipped by 0.3 Mt from March to 1.6 Mt. Meanwhile, shipments to South Korea fell by 0.9 Mt to 1.4 Mt.

June is scheduled to see exports of BTC Blend from the Turkish port of Ceyhan fall more than 6% month-on-month to an average of 827 kb/d, Argus reports. Exports along the BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) pipeline remain absent of Tengiz crude, as the dispute between Tengizchevroil and the BTC consortium over tariffs remains unresolved. As a result, the blend will be made up of Azeri Light and Azeri Shakh Deniz condensate in June.

OPEC members (excluding Iraq) produced an average of 26.72 mb/d of crude oil in April, an unchanged rate from the month before, Argus reports. Saudi Arabia increased its output by 50 kb/d m-o-m to an average of 8.15 mb/d. This helped offset a 90 kb/d maintenance induced decrease in Nigerian production, which averaged 2.01 mb/d last month. Iranian output also fell slightly, from 3.78 mb/d to 3.75 mb/d, as demand for the country's crude stuttered. Elsewhere, production gains came from Kuwait, the UAE and Algeria. The organisation's combined output remains 1.85 mb/d above its target.

The latest summary of weekly petroleum data from the US Dept. of Energy reveals crude oil stocks of 362.5 Mbbl at the end of last week, a 1.9 Mbbl increase from the week before. Crude inputs at the country's refineries declined by 110 kb/d to reach an average of 15.04 mb/d last week, whilst imports fell by 264kb/d over the same period to an average of 9.69 mb/d. Mogas stocks fell by 2.8 Mbbl to reach 222.1 Mbbl, with imports averaging 856 kb/d, a 293 kb/d drop from a week earlier. Distillate stocks increased by 1.4 Mbbl to reach 153.8 Mbbl by the end of the week, whilst imports declined by 31 kb/d to 193 kb/d.

In its latest Oil Market Report, the International Energy Agency has revised down its 2010 forecast for global oil demand by 190 kb/d, so that it now stands at 86.4 mb/d. The agency forecasts global refinery crude runs of 73.3 mb/d in 2010, a 370 kb/d upward revision from its last report.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has sharply lifted its forecast for China's soyabean imports by 2.5 Mt from April's estimate to 46 Mt in the 2009/10 (Oct-Sep) trading year. As a result, world soya (bean+meal) trade is predicted to increase 3 Mt on previous estimate to 140.4 Mt in 2009/10. In its initial projection, USDA expects world soya trade in 2010/11 to rise by 4.1 Mt on this year to a new annual high of 144.5 Mt, supported by strong import demand from China.

China's crude imports surged 31% yoy in April to another new record high of 5.18 mb/d, having risen 3.9% from March, according to preliminary data from China Customs. Year-to-date volumes are now up 37% at an average rate of 4.77 mb/d. Product imports were down 7.8% yoy at 834 kb/d, despite rising 9.4% from March. The country has been increasing imports over recent months as it ramps up refinery crude runs following the start up of new capacity.

In its latest monthly report, OPEC forecasts growth in global oil demand of 950 kb/d in 2010, an upward revision of 50 kb/d from it last report. Global oil demand for the year is now forecast at 85.38 mb/d.

Scheduled production of the four major North Sea crude oils will see a collective 20% month-on-month fall to an average of 965 kb/d in June, Dow Jones reports. The decline is largely as a result of maintenance in the Brent and Ekofisk fields, where output is set to decline from 194 kb/d to 123 kb/d, and from 382 kb/d to 118 kb/d respectively. Forties production is in fact set to increase from 484 kb/d to 560 kb/d, whilst Oseberg output is scheduled to fall slightly to 163 kb/d.