Energy and commodities highlights: Metals and EVs, Africa’s downstream boom, Brazil’s sugar season

Metals are playing a starring role in the transition towards renewables and electric vehicles, and the past week saw plenty of activity in the sector. There were also positive indicators pointing to strong demand ahead for a number of products.

In China, the announcement of a cut in subsidies for EVs signalled a further milestone in the industry’s development.

Construction of Australia’s largest lithium processing plant began in Kemerton, Western Australia, with approval to produce up to 100,000mt/year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide. While research is ongoing to refine battery chemistry, there is no real alternative to lithium for batteries in the transport sector, making future supply crucial to the EV industry's development.

In terms of international trade flows, Japan and South Korea saw their imports of lithium carbonate and hydroxide soar in February. Japan’s imports of lithium hydroxide, for example, jumped 79% year on year to 2,687 mt. Chinese lithium imports declined, however.

According to the Japan Mining Industry Association , development in transport and telecoms should bolster demand for base metals, which include nickel, copper and zinc, despite economic headwinds. “With the EV and 5G coming, demand fall is unlikely in the longer term,” said association chairman Naoki Ono on March 27.

Away from EVs, development in conventional autos continues to bolster the price of palladium, used in catalytic converters to reduce emissions. Palladium is currently priced at around $1,600 per ounce, a rise of more than 50% since October.

GRAPHIC OF THE WEEK

The gas discovery off Cyprus announced in late February by US major ExxonMobil and its partner Qatar Petroleum has contributed to the fast-shifting dynamics of the East Mediterranean gas market.

PODCAST: BUYING FLURRY ON DATED BRENT

S&P Global Platts reporters Emma Kettley and Gillian Carr speak to Joel Hanley about the sudden strong buying interest in the North Sea Dated Brent crude complex, as well as the knock-on effect on grades such as Russia's Urals.

OIL

African downstream buoyed by $30 billion investment: refiners association

Africa's downstream sector has seen an injection of $30 billion in investment, as the continent is one of the few regions where oil demand is expected to grow steadily for the next two decades, the African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARA) said Thursday.

AGRICULTURE

Sugar's share of the 2019-20 CS Brazil cane crush to rise to 38.3%: survey

The 2019-20 sugarcane season will officially start April 1 in the Center-South, the world's largest sugarcane- and sugar-producing region. The continued strength of ethanol prices has maintained a wide spot premium to sugar, which, coupled with higher-than-expected fuel consumption rates in 2019, is tilting the balance toward ethanol.

SHIPPING

IMO 2020 will see bunker traders play bigger role in facilitating credit, information

The role of bunker traders is undergoing a transformation as 2020 approaches, with many likely to play an increasingly vital role as harbingers of credit and information to a market which is dealing with the complexity of the International Maritime Organization's global sulfur limit rule for marine fuels.

THE LAST WORD

"We're not looking to trade battery metals in the short term, we are focused on the energy side of commodities."

– Gunvor CEO, Torbjorn Tornqvist, lays out the limits ofthe Swiss trading company’s current strategy.