Bulk Shipping Watch Newsletter


IRON ORE & STEEL

NEW SOE RISES TO SEEK GLOBAL EDGE IN MINERALS
Source: China Daily – July 27th   
Centrally administered group aims to facilitate trade, better guarantee supply
The establishment of centrally administered State-owned China Mineral Resources Group Ltd will help the nation better guarantee the supply of important mineral resources, experts said. The inaugural meeting of China Mineral Resources Group Ltd, a mineral resource group with a registered capital of 20 billion yuan ($2.97 billion), was held in Beijing on Monday, a major move by the country to ensure the security of industrial and supply chains and high-quality development…..FULL STORY

CHILL WIND SETS IN ON AUSTRALIA INVESTMENT
Source: China Daily – July 5th 
While flows from China fall amid strains, change of tone in Canberra offers hope.
It should come as no surprise that Chinese investors are giving Australia a wide berth. Analysts say that unless there is a thaw in relations between the two countries, the situation may not improve much in the near future. Moreover, other factors are also contributing to the decline in Chinese investments…..​​FULL STORY


CHINA STEEL TRADE TO FALL IN COMING MONTHS AS WEAK DEMAND OUTLOOK WEIGHS
Source: Hellenic Shipping News – July 26th
China’s semi-finished steel exports retreated 3.1% on the month to 278,000 mt in June, falling for the first time in three months, the country’s customs data showed.
While the June volume was still well above the 1,618 mt exported a year earlier, sluggish overseas demand has led to a sharp drop in order bookings, leading to potentially sharp declines in exports in coming months, market participants told S&P Global Commodity Insights..FULL STORY

CHINA MULLS SETTING UP IRON ORE GROUP TO GAIN BARGAINING POWER: SOURCES

Source: Hellenic Shipping News – July 26th
China is looking to set up an iron ore purchasing group by the end of 2022 and build distribution centers at ports, as domestic industry players seek more bargaining power in iron ore trade negotiations and supply security, industry sources said June 24..FULL STORY 

SGX IRON ORE CLIMBS TO 4-WEEK HIGH AS CHINA STEEL MARGINS REBOUND

Source: Hellenic Shipping News – July 29th      
Iron ore futures extended their rally to a fifth session on Thursday, pushing the Singapore benchmark to a four-week high, bolstered by rebounding steel margins in China that have prompted some steel producers to restart blast furnaces. 
The most-traded iron ore, for September delivery, on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange climbed 5.1% to 778 yuan ($115.28) a tonne, its strongest level since July 8..​​​​​FULL STORY 

AUSTRALIAN IRON ORE MINERS CAUTIOUS ON CHINA’S PLAN TO CENTRALISE BUYING

Source: Mining – July 21st
China’s plan to centralize iron ore purchases has prompted questions about whether the move could hit the bottom lines of global mining giants, such as Australia’s Rio Tinto and BHP Group.
China, exposed to international prices of the steelmaking raw material as it must import nearly 80% of its annual consumption of about 1.2 billion tonnes, launched a new state-backed resources company on Tuesday…..FULL STORY 

CHINA TO EXTEND ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES ON STEEL PRODUCT FROM JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA, AND EU

Source: Hellenic Shipping News – July 25th 
China will extend anti-dumping duties on grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel imported from Japan, South Korea, and the European Union, the country’s ministry of commerce said on Friday.
The duties will be extended for five years beginning from July 23, it said in a statement…..FULL STORY 

COAL

CHINA ACHIEVES SUFFICIENT ENERGY SUPPLY IN H1: OFFICIAL
Source: China Daily – July 28th  
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BEIJING – China secured a sufficient energy supply in the first half of this year, a senior energy official said on Wednesday.
With coordinated efforts to meet the demand for electricity, coal stocks in the country’s coal-fired power plants exceeded 170 million tons in the January-June period, a surge of 51.7 percent year-on-year, Li Fulong, director of the development planning department of the National Energy Administration (NEA), told a press conference…..FULL STORY 

CHINA’S MOOTED END TO AUSTRALIAN COAL BAN WILL HAVE ZERO MARKET IMPACT

Source: Hellenic Shipping News – July 27th  
Talk that China may end its unofficial ban on imports of Australian coal is unlikely to result in any significant increase in shipments to the world’s biggest coal buyer. 
Media reports last week suggested that Beijing is considering lifting the informal embargo, put in place in the second half of 2020 as tensions escalated with Canberra over a series of issues….FULL STORY 

RECENT AUSTRALIA-CHINA TRADE TALKS COULD IMPACT ON GLOBAL COAL SUPPLY/DEMAND

Source: Hellenic Shipping News – July 23rd
According to Commodities at Sea, S&P Global Market Intelligence, annual seaborne shipments of Australian coal to mainland China have declined to 70.3 million metric tons (mt) in 2020 and to zero in 2021 and year-to-date 2022, after hitting a record high of 92 million mt in 2019….​​​​​​FULL STORY 

CHINA’S TOP COAL MINER BOOSTS FIRST-HALF INVESTMENT, PRODUCTION
Source: Mining – July 26th 
China Energy Investment Corp., the country’s top coal miner, lifted its investments and production as the government pushes for energy security and increased spending on infrastructure.
Development investment rose by 51% to 49.3 billion yuan ($7.3 billion) in the first six months from the same period in 2021, the Beijing-based company said in a statement posted on the state-backed China Electric Power News WeChat account. CEIC started work on 11 power projects with 12.4 gigawatts of capacity that will cost 86.1 billion yuan…​FULL STORY 
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COAL’S DOMINANCE IN CHINA WILL ENDURE FOR A DECADE OR MORE

Source: Mining – July 21st   
For those dismayed at the searing heat afflicting much of the planet, some sobering news from the world’s biggest coal industry: the dirtiest fossil fuel will remain China’s mainstay source of energy for a decade or more.
“Coal’s dominant role is unlikely to change in the next 10 to 15 years,” Zhang Hong, deputy general secretary of the China National Coal Association, told a briefing on Wednesday….​FULL STORY 

SOYBEAN

BRAZIL MAY EXPORT CORN TO CHINA IN THE SECOND HALF
Source: Hellenic Shipping News -July 27th   
Brazilian and Chinese officials are re-discussing a trade protocol so that Brazil can ship corn to China sooner than intended, Brazilian Agriculture Minister Marcos Montes said. 
Montes said the successful revision of the protocol would allow Brazilian corn to be exported to China in the second half of the year as opposed to next year, as was agreed earlier with Beijing officials…..FULL STORY 

U.S. DISAPPROVAL OF CHINA’S GRAIN STOCKPILING FULL OF IRONY -BRAUN

Source: U.S. News – July 25th  
Rocky trade relations between the United States and China have recently taken a back seat to the conflict between major grain exporters Ukraine and Russia, but U.S. officials fanned the flames on Friday, accusing Beijing of stockpiling grain amid a global food crisis.
That criticism, however, is a bit thorny given the Phase 1 trade deal still in place saying China will buy unprecedented amounts of U.S. farm goods, obligations which have not yet been met…​​​​..FULL STORY 

CHINA’S FARMS FACE CLIMATE CHANGE CHALLENGE, OFFICIAL SAYS
Source: CNA – July 20th
China’s massive agricultural sector is facing growing risks as a result of extreme weather and shifting planting conditions brought about by climate change, an official with the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday. 
China’s farming belts have been hit by record temperatures and rainfall this year, as well as drought in the north, and Liu Lihua of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said the country is facing a surge in “extreme meteorological disasters”….FULL STORY 

CHINA 2022 SUMMER WHEAT OUTPUT RISES 1% FROM LAST YEAR – STATS BUREAU
Sources: Hellenic Shipping News – July 18th    
China’s wheat for the summer harvest rose slightly from the previous year, the country’s statistics bureau said on Thursday, following concerns after heavy autumn rains delayed planting for the winter harvest.
Summer wheat crop output in the world’s top grower of the grain rose 1.0% to 135.76 million tonnes in 2022, the National Statistics Bureau said, while wheat planting acreage this summer increased 0.2% from last year….FULL STORY 

ENERGY

POTEN: CHANGING CHINESE IMPORT PATTERNS SCRAMBLE TANKER TRADES 
Source: Riviera News – July 26th
Chinese crude oil imports in June 2022 fell to a four-year low and given the importance of China for global tonne-mile demand, this was bad news for the tanker market, says Poten & Partners’ most recent analysis….FULL STORY 

CNOOC STRIKES IT BIG TIME OFFSHORE WITH FIRST-EVER SHALE BREAKTHROUGH
Source: China Daily – July 29th     
Chinese State-owned oil and gas giant China National Offshore Oil Corp has tapped commercial flows of oil and gas from a shale exploration well in the South China Sea, the first successfully drilled shale oil well offshore. 
The country’s first offshore shale oil exploration well Weiye-1, located at the southwestern trough of Beibu Gulf Basin in the South China Sea, tested daily production of 20 cubic meters of oil and 1,589 cubic meters of natural gas, said the country’s top offshore oil and gas driller on Thursday in a release….FULL STORY 

CHINA MAY SEE AN UNPRECEDENTED DROP IN LNG IMPORTS NEXT YEAR

Source: Energy Bulletin – July 21st 
High LNG prices have made the commodity significantly less popular in China. Coal-supportive policies are making coal-fired power more attractive. Lower power demand as a result of China’s strict covid policies has resulted in less appetite for imported gas. China became the world’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas last year. But in a completely different energy market this year, China will likely cede the title to Japan, as Chinese imports of LNG are set for the largest-ever annual plunge since China started importing the super-chilled fuel in 2006.FULL STORY 

JULY CRUDE THROUGHPUTS SEEN LOWER AMID HEAVY MAINTENANCE

Source: Energy Bulletin – July 26th
China’s crude throughput is likely to edge lower in July, weighed down by maintenance at state-owned refineries amid uneven oil product demand recovery and limited exports, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed July 26.
The country’s four state-owned refiners trimmed their run rates to around 73.5% in July, just marginally above the two-year low of 73.4% in May, while the private integrated Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) cut its utilization rate by eight percentage points from June…FULL STORY 

CHINA’S JUNE CRUDE IMPORTS AT INDEPENDENT REFINERIES DIP AMID CONGESTION
Source: Source: Energy Bulletin – July 4th  
Chinese independent refineries’ June crude imports edged down 0.5% to 4.4 million b/d, or 18 million mt, in June from the record high of 4.42 million b/d in May as Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical could only manage to take in half of its feedstock tanker arrivals due to port congestion. 
FULL STORY 

CHINA SEES IMPROVEMENTS IN LOGISTICS FLOW
Source: China Daily – July 29th 
China has made steady progress in ensuring smooth logistics and freight transportation over the past three months, the Ministry of Transport said Thursday….​​​​​​​FULL STORY 


MARINE PAINT SWELLS ON SURGE OF SHIP ORDERS
Source: China Daily – July 7th
Domestic makers up efforts to meet demand with full production capacity.
After two months of watching their production volume drop, marine paint and building material manufacturers in China’s eastern region are raising both efficiency and output to drive growth and offset losses caused by shipbuilders’ declining production capacity in the second quarter.​​​​​​​FULL STORY 


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