 | | THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012 | To download the full report (PDF document) please click here
ENERGY:
Brent rises above $111 on stocks draw, demand recovery
SINGAPORE, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Brent crude rose above $111 on a surprise draw in U.S. oil stocks and hopes of a recovery in demand as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sought to boost its resources to help countries grapple with the euro zone crisis.
"For oil, the demand side is very positive, as we can see from the recent set of data. The United States is recovering steadily while Asian demand grows," said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager with Astramax Co. in Tokyo. "The supply side is worrying because of the tensions in Iran and very limited spare production capacity elsewhere.
Australia's Woodside, Santos say LNG on schedule, production near target
PERTH, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Top Australian energy firms Woodside and Santos said their multi-billion liquefied natural gas export projects are progressing on schedule after reporting fourth-quarter production that dipped in line with forecasts.
Woodside's A$14.9 billion ($15.5 billion) Pluto LNG export project expected to come online on schedule in March 2012, making it Australia's first new LNG project to come online in six years.
US rejects Keystone oil pipeline; Republicans fume
WASHINGTON/CALGARY, Alberta, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The Obama Administration rejected the Keystone oil pipeline on Wednesday, a move that Republicans decried for sacrificing jobs and energy security in order to shore up the president's environmental base before elections.
U.S. President Barack Obama said the administration denied TransCanada's application for the $7 billion Canada-to-Texas oil sands pipeline because there was not enough time to review an alternate route that would avoid a sensitive aquifer in Nebraska -- within a 60-day window set by Congress.
BP sees China as top oil user in 2027
LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - China will drive the world's growth in oil demand in the next two decades and in 2027 will overtake the United States as the world's top oil consumer, BP Plc said on Wednesday.
BP, in its Energy Outlook 2030, also said oil was set to be the slowest-growing fuel in the next 20 years, restrained by higher prices and a gradual move towards market rather than subsidised fuel prices in emerging economies.
Bulgaria bans shale oil and gas drilling
SOFIA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The Bulgarian parliament banned on Wednesday shale oil and gas exploration through hydraulic fracturing or fracking due to environmental concerns following widespread protests against the unconventional procedure.
The Balkan country is the second European Union state after France to ban fracking, which involves injecting water mixed with sand and chemicals at high pressure into shale formations.
Oil demand falling as recession fears mount-IEA
LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Oil demand is falling for the first time since the global economic crisis of 2008-2009, the International Energy Agency said, warning that mild weather, high oil prices and a rising likelihood of a global recession will depress demand in 2012.
Although worries about disruptions to Iranian oil exports have supported prices, consumption fell in the last quarter of 2011 year-on-year due to mild winter weather in the northern hemisphere and the overriding fears about an impending recession in the euro zone, the IEA said in its monthly report on Wednesday.
AGRICULTURE:
Corn, wheat rise from 1-month low; IMF move supports
SINGAPORE, Jan 19 (Reuters) - U.S. corn and wheat edged up, recouping some of last session's losses as an improved risk appetite following a move by the International Monetary Fund to tackle the European debt crisis lifted global markets.
"Corn and wheat are slightly higher today as the markets are tracking stronger crude oil prices and impressive data from the United States last night," said Ker Chung Yang at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
Malaysia's 2012 palm oil output seen up 2.3 pct-MPOB
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Malaysia's 2012 palm oil production is expected to rise 2.3 percent to 19.3 million tonnes from 18.9 million tonnes the previous year as more estates come into maturity, an official from the country's industry regulator said on Thursday.
Malaysian Palm Oil Board official Ramli Abdullah said the impact of an aggressive replanting campaign in 2008 and 2009 will boost production as young oil palm trees reach maturity.
Brazil cocoa arrivals lag last season's by 15 pct
Jan 18 (Reuters) - Cocoa arrivals from Brazil's main producing state Bahia continued their seasonal decline in the last week, but were still above average for the time of year, data from Bahia Commercial Association showed.
Arrivals from other states shot up more than half in the last week, however, as producers sold some accumulated stocks, Bahia-based cocoa analyst Thomas Hartmann said. That may have been prompted by a sharp rise in farm gate prices last week.
Uganda duty-free sugar imports hurt sector -producers
KAMPALA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Uganda's sugar producers said on Wednesday that mountains of unsold sugar had built up in the past three months after the government gave a temporary green light to imports of duty-free sugar designed to plug a supply deficit.
Wilberforce Mubiru of the Uganda Sugarcane Technologists Association (USCTA) said 12.5 percent of last year's estimated total output remained unsold.
Ukraine to boost maize output in 2012
KIEV, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Ukraine wants to increase its area under maize by 700,000 hectares in 2012, targeting a total area of 4.3 million hectares, Farm Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said on Wednesday.
"We will be recommending increasing the area under maize by 700,000 hectares. This will be compensation for the loss of winter grain," he told journalists.
BASE METALS:
LME copper climbs to four-month high on IMF plan
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 (Reuters) - London copper climbed to a four-month high, with trading boosted by news that the International Monetary Fund was seeking to raise money to tackle the euro zone debt crisis which has weighed down financial markets for months.
"The positive sentiments are back in the market," said Ker Chung Yang, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
Odds of rain in Australia's iron belt rise-bureau
SYDNEY, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Australia's coastal Pilbara iron belt, a cyclone-prone region where two-thirds of the world's traded iron ore is shipped, should expect above-average rainfall over the next three months, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said on Thursday.
A 60 percent to 75 percent chance of above-average rainfall existed over parts Western Australia state, which includes the Pilbara, it said.
Freeport Indonesia restarts copper Grasberg shipments
JAKARTA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's Indonesian unit has restarted copper concentrate shipments after a three-month strike ended in December, the company said on Wednesday, a sign that work at the world's second largest copper mine was returning to normal.
The news helped Freeport's stock jump 3.7 percent to $44.65 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Brazil mining back to normal after floods-unions
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Iron ore mining operations in Brazil's key mining state of Minas Gerais have returned to normal after rains and flooding sharply cut production in recent weeks, mine-workers' unions told Reuters on Wednesday.
Mines reopened over the weekend and companies including Vale, the world's top iron-ore exporter, sent staff in Minas Gerais back to work on normal schedules, work unions told Reuters.
PRECIOUS METALS:
Gold up for 4th day on IMF funding hopes
SINGAPORE, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Spot gold edged higher , on course for a fourth session of gains, supported by hopes of increased funding from the International Monetary Fund to help tackle the euro zone debt crisis.
"The IMF funding talks are giving some support to metals," said Peter Fung, head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals in Hong Kong. "The market is also supported by fresh buying of some funds and physical demand.
STEEL NEWS:
ArcelorMittal's Madrid plant to close indefinitely
LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal will prolong the closure of its long carbon steel production plant in Madrid for an indefinite period due to continued weakness in demand and will move the affected employees to other plants in Spain, the company said.
More than 290 employees were affected by the announcement of a temporary closure of the Madrid plant last October, which the steelmaker said at the time was due to weakness in the Spanish construction market.
GLOBAL MARKETS:
Asian shares hit 2-month highs as mood positive
TOKYO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Asian shares rose to a two-month high and the euro firmed after news that the International Monetary Fund was seeking to boost its resources to tackle the euro zone debt crisis helped ease worries about Europe's funding difficulties.
"Global growth environment may be not great but it is not disastrous either. Equities are pricing in a pretty bad environment, but the environment is not as bad as the prices suggest," he said.
CHART OF THE DAY: SHANGHAI COPPER - 24 HRS TECHNICAL OUTLOOK 
BEYOND THE HEADLINES:
China's banks lure man on the street to gold
SINGAPORE, Jan 19 (Reuters) - For Chinese shipping executive Ping Bo buying gold is the best way to protect his family's wealth and give his 10-year-old son a headstart into adulthood.
"For my son, the idea is that he will get a nice stash of gold that he can cash out when he turns 21 or when he gets married," said Ping, one of over 2 million people that have opened accounts in the past two years to accumulate gold at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
Sprott bearish on base metals, positive on gold, oil
NEW YORK, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Prominent Canadian fund manager Eric Sprott said on Wednesday he was bearish on cyclical commodities such as industrial metals because of the economic slowdown, though he remained positive on gold and crude oil.
Sprott, a long-time gold bull who last week filed to launch a platinum and palladium product allowing investors to redeem the physical metals, said he expects that business to grow in the wake of MF Global's collapse.
Nigeria protests up pressure to reform oil sector
LAGOS, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A week of protests over fuel prices has put Nigeria's government under more pressure than ever to make good on long-unfulfilled promises to reform its notoriously inefficient and corrupt energy sector, and this time it will be harder not to act.
The powerful oligarchs in charge of the oil industry, Africa's largest, have been attacked in the media and pilloried at rallies after their abrupt withdrawal of the fuel subsidy on New Year's Day unleashed protests that crippled the economy.
Libya's Lisco to partially restart steel production
LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Libya's state-owned steelmaker Lisco will restart part of its steel production operations next week and expects to resume steel melting in April if the energy supply to the city of Misrata is restored, a company official said on Wednesday.
The company had to suspend operations almost a year ago due to conflicts that later saw Libya's former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, overthrown, captured and killed.
Freeport Indonesia restarts copper shipments to smelter -official
JAKARTA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's Indonesian unit has restarted copper concentrate shipments to a smelter on Java island, a company official said on Wednesday, after workers ended a three-month strike last month.
PT Smelting's copper smelter on Indonesia's Java island has again started to receive copper, Dwi Bagus, an official at the smelter told Reuters by email, without giving further details.
Rico weighs sale of Australian iron ore project
MELBOURNE, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Australia's Rico Resources , aiming to mine in the iron ore-rich Pilbara, may sell its key asset after receiving approaches from Chinese and Indian steel mills and Asian commodity traders, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
Rico appointed U.S.-based Evercore Partners this week to weigh up a range of options, including funding for its project and supply offtake or selling a stake in its flagship Wonmunna project. | | |
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EVENTS TO WATCH TODAY (GMT)
JAPAN REUTERS TANKAN DI JAN 2012 (2330)
U.S. EIA NATURAL GAS STOCKS WEEKLY (1530)
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