The global demand for basmati rice has been rising, especially in the Middle East and the EU. As a result, the competition to sell this long-grain variety has intensified in recent years. The world's biggest Basmati suppliers -- India and Pakistan -- claim proprietary ownership over this long-grain Asian indica rice. In this podcast, we will shine some light on the fundamental issues in the basmati trade and the way forward for the two South Asian countries.

Join S&P Global Commodity Insights' Asim Anand, manager, agriculture & food pricing, Dipanshi Agarwal, principal analyst, APAC crops, Ayushi Baloni and Namarita Kathait, associate price reporters for agriculture & food, in a discussion about the intricacies of the global basmati trade and why it has become a source of disagreement between India and Pakistan.

The energy landscape in Asia has been evolving in recent years. With a global push towards renewable energy, the longstanding dependence of many Asian countries on coal comes into the limelight. The discussions surround critical questions about whether these nations will be able to transition from primarily fossil fuel-based to a more clean-powered energy, especially at a time when major coal consumers India and China are trying to increase their self-reliance on coal.

Join Andre Lambine, associate director, lead APAC short-term power and renewables research, Tanya Jain, associate price reporter for thermal coal and Anirudh Iyer, senior price reporter for energy transition as they speak to Vaibhav Chakraborty, senior price reporter for thermal coal about the ups and downs of achieving energy stability in Asian countries.

The global methanol market is seeing emerging demand for low-carbon transportation fuels, with particular focus on marine fuels, driven by a need to decarbonize global shipping without disrupting supply chains. While conventional methanol has a history of being used as a transportation fuel, there are many new technologies designed to produce methanol with lower carbon intensity than conventional, oil-based marine fuels. However, cost of production and supply availability remain barriers to adoption.

Global research lead for methanol and derivatives Olivier Maronneaud and chemicals price reporter Andre Mikhail discuss methanol's potential as a low-carbon fuel, the current production landscape, and the need for effective regulation to bridge the cost gap between sustainable fuels and fossil.

Links:
International Methanol Producers and Consumers Association conference
International Maritime Organization 83rd meeting
eMethanol FOB Rotterdam $/mt FRGMD00
Marine Fuel 0.5% FOB Spore Cargo $/mt AMFSA00

Copper prices were on a roller-coaster ride in 2021 with demand recovery in US and Europe, logistics issues, COVID-19 disruptions and power cuts in China all contributing to the price fluctuations. Futures backwardation also hit a historical high in 2021. 

In 2022, increasing supply from new and existing mines is likely to be one of the key factors to watch out for.

On this week's Commodities Focus podcast, S&P Global Platts Yuen Cheng Mok and Han Lu discuss what's in store for copper markets in 2022.

Enterprise Products Partners co-CEO Jim Teague and Chris D'Anna, senior vice president of petrochemicals, discuss the energy storage and transportation titan's push into upstream petrochemicals that will feed growing plastics demand over the next decade.

The company is a key delivery point for physically settled futures markets, with global hydrocarbon risk management from the wellhead to waterborne markets. Enterprise's reach includes 50,000 miles of natural gas liquids, crude oil, natural gas and refined products pipelines as well as 260 million barrels of NGLs, crude, refined products and petrochemicals storage. Petrochemicals is not new to Enterprise, but the company is expanding that reach with export growth, storage and olefin production facilities, including serious consideration of a cracker that could serve downstream plastics producers.

Kristen Hays, S&P Global Platts' global market lead for polymers, recently sat down with Teague and D'Anna to discuss the company's growing focus on petrochemicals.

The World Petroleum Congress in Houston brought back a sense of normalcy to the energy sector as both the industry and the world continue to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. But the other existential threat for fossil fuels is the burgeoning energy transition and switch to cleaner sources of power and fuels. At the conference, many oil and gas executives pushed back at the notion of a seamless transition, arguing that fossil fuels will be needed for many decades to come, and warning of price shocks and energy shortages if the world shifts too quickly.

Americas oil news director Jeff Mower, senior upstream editor Starr Spencer, and senior midstream editor Jordan Blum sat down to recap these themes from WPC and reflect on the slow shift toward in-person events again.

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is one of the most controversial energy infrastructure projects in history. Now complete, there remains uncertainty over when the 55 Bcm/year project will begin commercial flows.

On this week's Commodities Focus podcast, S&P Global Platts Henry Edwardes-Evans, Stuart Elliott, Gary Hornby and James Huckstepp discuss the project's history, the many obstacles it has faced, its impact on European gas prices and what to expect next.

US natural gas and power markets are strengthening as the heart of winter heating season nears. 

In this podcast, editors from S&P Global Platts power and natural gas teams discuss spot and forward pricing, weather outlooks, major trends, and market fundamentals impacting the winter outlook. With power and gas prices rising across the board, we investigate how these markets have evolved from the previous year, what infrastructure has been added, and what to expect as winter forges ahead. 

The price of the global Japonica market's benchmark, US #1, 4% broken white rice, is reaching highs not seen in ten years at quite an unfortunate time. Freight from California remains incredibly difficult to source, especially at an affordable rate for buyers. Meanwhile, other Japonica origins, such as Australia and China continue to steadily chip away at market share amid pressure to export their increasingly robust stockpiles.

In this Commodities Focus podcast, S&P Global Platts agriculture and freight editors discuss California's situation and what it means for the global Japonica rice trade going into 2022.

Ciaran Roe and Ira Joseph break down the unprecedented price movements in recent LNG and gas markets. The discussion focuses on how we arrived at this point of unusual tightness and whether the conditions that brought us here will persist. Then the discussion turns to the evolving pricing relationship between JKM and TTF, how LNG imports have been trading above Europe's main gas hub for months, and how the US Henry Hub fits into the mix. The final segment looks ahead to how short-term price volatility may trigger changes in long-term gas and LNG contracts and the types of indexation that will underpin them.

Note: Prices discussed as of date of recording 28th October 2021.

While energy prices are moving higher and higher, there's a clear laggard in the commodities space: the tanker freight market. Why are clean and dirty tankers not keeping pace? S&P Global Platts shipping market experts Pradeep Rajan, Vickey Du and Sameer C. Mohindru examine the factors shaping the clean and dirty tanker markets, and their path to recovery.

S&P Global Platts crude editors Maria Eugenia Garcia and Fred Wang discuss with Senior analyst Richard Capuchino, Jr. the latest developments in light, sweet crude production in the Atlantic Coast of South America. These new grades are receiving strong interest globally, but particularly from Asia, as refiners seek to reduce sulfur content in refined products.

Natural gas storage inventories in the US have crept within 5% of the five-year average and Canada is pushing even higher as the injection season winds down. However, key hubs throughout the US and Canada are reporting prices not maintained since the dawn of the shale revolution due to North America's newfound exposure to global gas market forces. If the US and Canada experience a colder-than-normal winter, and drops inventories below 1 Tcf, pricing analysts expect the benchmark Henry Hub to crack $10/MMBtu, with others across the continent following suit.

Will US tariffs reshape aluminum trade flows? How will new alumina capacity out of Indonesia impact prices?

In this podcast, Asia nonferrous metals team lead Jenson Ong is joined by Louissa Liau, associate price reporter for Asia nonferrous metals, and Lucy Tang, market news specialist for Asia metals to discuss the latest developments across the aluminum value chain. 

Related price assessments (subscriber content):

MMWAU00  
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In the latest installment of the S&P Global Platts Commodities Focus podcast, Harry Weber, a Platts senior natural gas writer in Houston, is joined by Dania El Saadi and Claudia Carpenter in Dubai. Dania is a Platts senior editor, Middle East news, and Claudia is Platts editorial lead, Middle East crude. They discuss the recently completed Gastech, the biggest in-person gathering of gas market participants since the coronavirus pandemic erupted almost two years ago. While there were nibbles around the edges of the market, the conference did not produce any major firm long-term offtake agreements that might help developers sanction a new liquefaction or regasification project. The attendees shared their outlooks, ideas for controlling fossil fuel emissions, technical innovations for cutting project costs, and thoughts about geopolitical and regulatory opportunities and challenges facing the industry.

As Europe struggles to replenish natural gas inventories, prices reach all-time highs, with Platts Analytics forecasting even more gas-to-oil switching throughout the coming winter.
While European gas and power supply and demand hangs in balance, market participants look to controversial Nord Stream 2 for a sign of hope, as the project enters certification proceedings.
S&P Global Platts Managing Editor of European Gas Gary Hornby, Platts Analytics Senior Gas Analysts Valentina Bonetti, and UK Power Analyst Shubh Shukla discuss the outlook for gas and power with Felix Fernandez.

Global polyethylene prices and trade flows have been hit by challenge after challenge, from the coronavirus pandemic since early 2020, the deep freeze in the US in February, to the recent container shortage that has driven freight rates to record highs. With the hurricane season still on in the US, new quality standards expected to be implemented in India, logistical issues in Europe, and polyethylene plant startups in the coming months, the question on when prices and trade flows will normalize continue to hound market participants.

S&P Global Platts market experts Heng Hui, Ashna Mishra and Sarah Trinder join Kristen Hays to share their insights on what's shaping global polyethylene markets today.

For more commodity news and analysis, visit https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en

A lack of vessel space, high freight costs, port backlogs and a shortage of truck drivers, the logistical challenges facing the plastics industry have multiplied across 2021. Join Platts petrochemical editors Aziz Ehtaiba, Sarah Trinder and Callum Colford as they discuss what this has meant for polymers and ask Platts Analytics Yi-Jeng Huang what's next for the markets.

Emerging economies and their successful vaccine rollouts will be key to the short-term recovery of the oil tanker market, after the highs of 2020, as it works through a period of low freight rates. International Seaways CEO Lois Zabrocky and Platts EMEA senior writer for transport fuels Tom Washington discuss the state of the market and where it is pointing.

California has one of the most aggressive clean energy goals in the US and the state leads the US in utility-scale solar capacity and battery storage capacity. More recently, discussions have picked up regarding offshore wind in the West.
Platts power news editor Kassia Micek discussed with Commissioner Karen Douglas the work the California Energy Commission is doing to develop offshore wind along the West Coast.

Germany goes to the polls on September 26 in the most open contest for years. As Chancellor Angela Merkel prepares to step down, S&P Global Platts' news and analytics experts discuss the daunting energy challenges facing her successor. The rally in natural gas prices adds uncertainty and may overshadow coalition talks that will set the framework for the coming four years as the new government has to put Europe's biggest economy on track for the new 2045 net zero target.

Leaders in the public and private sector are faced with the possibility of more frequent and intense weather events -- winter storms, heat waves, cyclones, wildfires -- as anthropogenic climate change continues, and must decide whether they should "price in" the risk of such events in building more robust and sustainable energy infrastructure.

Michael Webber, chief technology officer at Energy Impact Partners, discusses the opportunities and challenges to that approach with Mark Watson, S&P Global Platts senior editor for North American electricity and gas, and Kieran Kemmerer, power sector analyst at Platts Analytics.

Tariff uncertainty, high freight rates, labor issues and other dynamics have combined with supply constraints and healthy demand to elevate global aluminum premiums.

And all that's happening as the value chain -- from producers to end-users -- is grappling with decarbonization and other big-picture challenges.

Hear from S&P Global Platts senior North America aluminum editors Tina Allagh and Sarah Baltic, along with Christopher Davis, Platts Regional Pricing Director for Metals in the Americas, about how US market participants are navigating these difficult times and more.

Companies operating in Latin America have set their eyes on nascent opportunities in the region like Guyana and Brazil, as Mexico has put the liberalization of its upstream sector on hold.

But the attractiveness of the 25 billion barrels of oil equivalent found in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico has not been lost because of politics.

We talked with Sergio Pimentel, a partner at Mexico City consultancy Agon and a former official at CNH, Mexico's energy regulator, about the country's regulations and how they can still be used to bring investment into the country.

We also talked with Bill Fuller of S&P Global Platts Analytics about the potential for Mexico's reserves and how private companies who have production contacts have performed in recent years.

Exporters of chicken meat from the US have been mulling what might happen to their trade in the event of a trade war. Mexico is their largest customer, and Brazil is their largest competitor. However, those US exporters supply fresh, brown chicken meat to Mexico, and they're quietly confident of their ability to hold onto that market.

William Bland, EMEA manager of price reporting for agriculture and food, talks to US poultry analyst Kelly Seier and price reporters Luke Lundgren and Beatriz Baltieri about how the market is planning for 2025.

Links: 
Platts Proteins Price Assessments 
US Chicken Marker USCM - ATALI00 
Chicken Leg FCA Brazil – ATALJ00 
 

New York has one of the most aggressive decarbonization plans in the country through its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which sets goals for building several gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, including offshore wind, battery storage and the transmission lines to connect those resources with urban demand centers, particularly New York City.

In this edition of the Platts Commodities Focus podcast, Jared Anderson, senior writer with S&P Global Platts, speaks with Sophie Brochu, CEO of Hydro Québec, whose company is active in the transition to cleaner energy sources and has submitted a proposal to transport hydropower from Québec's large network of reservoirs into New York City via a high-voltage direct-current transmission line.

Additionally, Kieran Kemmerer, power market analyst with S&P Global Platts Analytics, offers perspective on the outlook for New York's clean energy ambitions and how the state's goals could impact power supply, demand, and pricing dynamics.

Sustainability is currently a key theme in the world of commodities. Recycled plastics and recycled metals have garnered considerable attention given how widely plastics and metals are used in downstream consumer products including food packaging and electronics.

S&P Global Platts market experts Samuel Chin, Miranda Zhang, and Eric Su explore the differences and similarities of these materials and their markets, and offer insights on how both commodities fit into the bigger picture of sustainability in Asia.

Container shipping markets have been tagged as red hot because base box rates have more than quintupled since the market began its steep hike north in May 2020 amid the pandemic's operational and logistical constraints.

But because exorbitantly high base rates are no longer the ticket to getting a box on a ship or a guarantee of timely delivery, the market has been shaped by measures such as carriers' premium services and surcharges that can more than double base rates.

S&P Global Platts Americas shipping senior managing editor Barbara Troner talks to Platts global container market experts Parisha Tyagi in Gurgaon, George Griffiths in London and David Lademan in Houston about how unusual market fundamentals make for unorthodox market behavior on all sides of the equation.

Jonty Rushforth, Senior Director of Markets and Energy Transition, and Paula VanLaningham, Platts Global Head of Carbon, talk about the devastating wildfires sweeping across the globe and the challenges facing Nature-Based Carbon Credits as the market reckons with Offset Permanence in the face of rising global temperatures.

For more discussions on all topics related to the Energy Transition, make sure to tune in to the Platts Future Energy podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and our website.

Plastic usage and recycling has become a hot-button topic recently, as the push for sustainable products is forefront in manufacturing goals.

Aluminum has long been touted the beverage package of choice because of the perceived sustainability it offers, but are the two closer in the race for sustainability than we think?

We take a closer look at the economic and environmental sustainability of recycling a can versus recycling a plastic bottle, and what it means for the industry at large.

S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber, S&P Global Market Intelligence senior midstream finance reporter Allison Good and Platts managing editor for Americas LNG Luke Stobbart discuss current trends in the North American midstream sector as operators of gas pipelines and LNG export terminals prepare to release financial results for the second quarter of 2021.

Investors will be watching for signs that the pickup in commercial activity in recent months is sufficient to support new infrastructure growth opportunities, as ESG initiatives command a lot of attention across the industry.

US refineries have ramped up production in the second quarter as domestic demand for gasoline and diesel grows and global energy markets begin to adjust back to pre-pandemic demand and production levels.

Increasing US Gulf Coast refinery utilization has had an adverse impact to clean and dirty tanker freight in the Americas, however, leaving shipowner earnings at less-than-favorable levels. S&P Global Platts tanker freight editors Catherine Wood, Nicole Baquerizo and Marieke Alsguth, along with senior oil writer Janet McGurty, discuss the "push and pull" of the US refinery landscape and how it's playing out among various tanker freight segments in the Americas.

In this episode of the S&P Global Platts Agriculture Focus podcast, the Platts EMEA Agriculture team discusses how the prices of different agricultural commodities, from wheat, corn and rice, to veg oils, sugar and biodiesel, have fared during the coronavirus pandemic and whether we can expect any knock-on effects in the coming months.

Cheniere, the biggest exporter of LNG in the US, is working to secure sufficient buyer
interest for a proposed mid-scale expansion at its Corpus Christi liquefaction facility
in Texas. It is also pursuing initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint at Corpus Christi
and at its Sabine Pass export terminal in Louisiana, and give customers more information about
the life-cycle emissions of its cargoes.

S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber is joined by Anatol Feygin,
Cheniere Energy's chief commercial officer, for a discussion about current trends in
the global LNG market, with a special emphasis on North America and the energy transition.

Raw feed materials have seen unprecedented growth in prices, putting a dent in the Asian feedmakers' margins. In this podcast, S&P Global Platts editors Elizabeth Thang, Takmila Shahid, and Ivy Li examine factors impacting the buying patterns of Asian customers, including supply and demand fundamentals, the impact of weather conditions on prices, as well as the current hog farm situation in China.

Copper smelter margins have been facing noticeable pressure in recent months as copper concentrate TC/RCs plunged on tight supply, will this mean more production cuts upcoming? Primary copper prices, premiums, and even byproduct sulfuric acid charges, meanwhile, have been rising. Can these offer enough relief to smelters amid record-low TC/RCs?

In this podcast, Asia nonferrous metals senior manager price reporting, Mok Yuen Cheng is joined by Asia nonferrous metals senior price reporter Han Lu, minerals and fertilizer associate price reporter Ong Jia Lun, and metals market news specialist Lucy Tang, to discuss the latest happenings in copper and take a closer look at the key drivers in the market.

Flows of naphtha from the US Gulf Coast to Asia have reached record highs in May and June, drawn by fresh demand from Asia's steam crackers returning from seasonal maintenance and new units coming online over the second half of June.

Though higher refining rates and dampened demand for gasoline in the US have opened wide this normally delicate naphtha arbitrage, tanker owners operating in the Americas have shown resistance to making the trans-Pacific voyage, citing low daily earnings and weak freight levels in both the Americas and Asia Medium Range tanker markets as deterrents for repositioning their fleets.

Marieke Alsguth, S&P Global Platts clean tanker editor, sits down with Houston naphtha editor MK Bower and Singapore naphtha editor Wanda Wang to discuss the factors that opened the floodgates for naphtha barrels to move from the USGC to Asia, and how the resurgence of petroleum product demand as countries emerge from pandemic-related lockdowns could affect activity on the trans-Pacific trade flow.

The US Supreme Court's June 25 decision opens the door for further small refinery exemptions.

With bearish-for-RIN prices, Janet McGurty and Josh Pedrick of S&P Global Platts talk about what could be on the horizon as the Environmental Protection Agency digests the ruling.

It's already become clear which areas of the US power market are likely to face challenges this summer, with alerts and price spikes in Texas and California in recent weeks, where drought, wildfires and other factors have become recurring threats.

The S&P Global Platts power news team gives its summer power market outlook, looking at trends around the country with additional insights from Platts Analytics.

Tanker and dry bulk shipping freight market for inbound and outbound trade from India has become come expensive due to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.

India is one of the world's largest importers of coal, vegetable oils and crude. It exports substantial volumes of refined products and dry bulk commodities such as iron ore, pellets, steel and salt.

Many countries are insisting that ships will be allowed to berth at their ports only if they have not called any Indian ports over the previous two to four weeks. This has resulted in many shipowners seeking a freight premium for loading or discharging cargoes in India. It is a double-edged sword - causing delays in delivery of cargoes as well as crew changes and thereby increasing the transportation cost. Some ports are also tweaking their quarantine rules too frequently and adding to the confusion.

S&P Global Platts Senior Managing Editor for Asia Pacific & Freight Pradeep Rajan, Senior Editor Sameer Mohindru and Associate Editor Isaac Eio examine present challenges being faced by the freight market for trade from and out of India.

New York has one of the most aggressive decarbonization plans in the country through its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which sets goals for building several gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, including offshore wind, battery storage and the transmission lines to connect those resources with urban demand centers.

In this edition of the Platts Commodities Focus podcast, Jared Anderson, senior writer with S&P Global Platts, speaks with Clint Plummer, CEO of Rise Light & Power, whose company is retooling one of the oldest fossil fuel-fired power plants in New York City into a renewable energy and storage hub.

Plummer, an industry veteran who helped develop the country's first offshore wind project, discusses challenges and potential solutions associated with bringing incremental renewable energy capacity into the physical and electrical island that characterizes New York City.

As piracy attacks grow in the Gulf of Guinea, the industry has banded together to make a statement – enough is enough, and the attack on merchant ships must come to an end.

S&P Global Platts speaks to the Head of Maritime Security at BIMCO Jakob Larsen on what has pushed the industry to band together and what the Declaration means for the future of security in the basin.

The upcoming federal elections in Mexico, the largest in recent history, are expected to have broad implications across many energy sectors.

We spoke with Adrian Duhalt, post-doctorate fellow in energy studies at Rice University in Houston, about the implications for the energy industry.

China on May 14 announced that it will implement a consumption tax on mixed aromatics, light cycle oil and bitumen blend from June 12 in an effort to close a loophole in its tax system. This tax is expected to have repercussions not only in the domestic market, but also in the regional refined products market and crude markets.

Mixed aromatics and light cycle oil or LCO are used as blend stocks in gasoline and gasoil, and bitumen blend is used as a feedstock by independent refiners.

The tax is expected to alter domestic supply-demand balances, regional trade flows, and types of crudes imported into China.

Prices have been soaring in most of the major steel markets, driven by high demand and insufficient supply. S&P Global Platts Lead Steel Analyst Paul Bartholomew, Associate Pricing Director for Metals Keith Tan, and Managing Editor Laura Varriale examine the factors in play.

US gasoline demand has been picking up as the country opens up from the coronavirus lockdowns.

Gasoline inventories are tight, especially on the US Atlantic Coast
following the recent Colonial Pipeline outage, but refiners are
ramping up runs, lured by strong margins.

S&P Global Platts Director of Americas Oil News Jeff Mower, Senior Editor Janet McGurty and Futures Editor Chris van Moessner discuss what is in store for this summer's gasoline markets.

Brazil's ferrous scrap exports have undergone a significant transformation, driven by a weakening domestic steel industry and increasing demand from India. Brazil exported a record 800,000 mt in 2023, following a decline in domestic scrap consumption. Looking ahead, the Brazilian recycling sector is diversifying and adapting to international standards while navigating the ongoing challenges of stagnant economic growth and global steel oversupply.

Americas senior metals pricing manager Adriana Carvalho is joined by Mayara Baggio and Camila Martinez, price reporters for Latin America metals, and Abdi Salad, price reporter for EMEA low-carbon and base metals, to discuss the evolving role of Brazil in the ferrous scrap trade. 

Links:
Subscribe to Platts Connect
HMS 1/2 Containerized FOB Brazil $/mt ABUPA00
Shredded Scrap Containerized FOB Brazil $/mt ABUPB00
Platts TSI Shredded Scrap CFR Nhava Sheva India $/mt AAXRQ04

Operators of pipelines and liquefaction terminals that were able to deliver supplies during the February freeze in Texas were rewarded with strong first-quarter profits, while those that had difficulty were saddled with higher costs and lower revenue.

S&P Global Platts senior natural gas writer Harry Weber and S&P Global Market Intelligence senior midstream finance reporter Allison Good analyze the just-completed release of Q1 earnings results by companies in the midstream and LNG sectors.

The US has the world's largest nuclear generation footprint and has witnessed early retirement of nuclear plants, due in part to low natural gas prices as well as declining costs of wind and solar technologies, as well as policy factors.

Today's podcast looks at the major cost concerns of nuclear generation today, how some US states are utilizing Zero Emission Credits, and how these issues are impacting decisions to extend operating licenses.

Petcoke prices out of the US Gulf have doubled since this time last year. Prices continue to rise amid tight supply, and volatile freight markets within the region add fuel to the flames.
S&P Global Platts coal and shipping editors discuss the impetus behind this price rally, in what has been one of the most notable commodity bull-runs of 2020/2021.