Special Reports

The emergence of the US as a major exporter has rapidly transformed the way the global LNG industry operates, but its economic success will not come without challenges, first and foremost from a potential bottleneck at the Panama Canal.

This report discusses China's current policy direction - now reinforced under a more empowered President Xi Jinping - and its wider implications for global commodity markets. 

Ongoing production curtailments appear to be the "new normal" in China's steel industry. This is spurring the growth of new electric arc furnace capacity, much of which is being brought on in place of the traditional steelmaking route. S&P Global Platts examines how this may affect scrap usage and iron ore imports.

Pricing in metallurgial or coking coal markets has entered a distinct new phase. Increased spot market activity, the use of futures and hedging, and the adoption of different price structures in coking coal are all part of longer-term trends that are transforming the market globally, in a way not unlike the changes seen in the iron ore market earlier this decade.

As new polymer capacities come online in the US Gulf Coast region, logistics players, from ports to packagers to railroads, are stepping up to get the resin moving.