보기: Market Movers Americas, March 14-18: American commodities trend bullish on Ukraine conflict

In this week's Market Movers: Uranium prices spike on potential Russian import bans, Mexican steelmakers push a triple-digit price change, solar power looks to expand in PJM, North American wheat futures fall, and natural gas prices could slide on incoming warmer temperatures.

Starting off, metal and nuclear markets await possible US government action to ban imports of uranium enriched in Russia. The Biden administration has exempted uranium from sanctions so far and did not bar imports in an executive order March 8 that covered oil, gas and coal, but news reports have said further action on uranium is being considered. US utilities, which rely on Russian enrichment services for up to one-fifth of supply, have opposed any limits. However, Constellation, the largest US nuclear plant operator, has said a restriction would not affect operations. U3O8, the most-traded form of uranium, climbed 16% last week in Platts assessments to the highest price since just after the March 2011 Fukushima I nuclear plant accident.

In agriculture, North American wheat futures dropped dramatically last week from the initial highs stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, cutting supply availability for Canadian wheat exports for the immediate future. Export basis prices have been driven higher for Canadian western red spring wheat, as remaining farmer supplies have become limited. Farmers seized the opportunity to market as much volume as possible as cash prices hit highs, and are now unwilling to make additional sales now that values have fallen $1.50/bushel. Exporters are also dealing with higher rail freight and fuel costs keeping export channels at a competitive disadvantage to inland bids. This brings us to our social media question of the week: With Ukraine being such a major supplier of wheat globally, how long will it take for the market impact to be seriously felt in North and South American markets? Tweet us your thoughts.**

In the steel market, major flat steelmakers in Mexico are hiking hot- and-cold rolled coils by $150/mt through the end of the month, citing higher international prices and rising raw materials costs. The move is expected to reverse the downfall seen in domestic flat steel prices since August 2021. The announcement made last week spurred an escalation of negotiations for domestic and foreign material at "old prices" delivered in Mexico, while others were already renegotiating old contracts with pending shipments adjusted to the new pricing level. With most mills sold out for the rest of March, and the export market also appealing, the market is confident the hike will be absorbed immediately.

In its most recent six- to 10-day outlook, the National Weather Service forecast that the eastern half of the United States has a strong probability of seeing above-normal temperatures later this week. The warmer weather could help lower spot gas prices in the Northeast and Central parts of the country in the near term, which have lately been pushed up by successive waves of frigid temperatures. Many Northeast regional spot gas prices have seen the strongest pricing for the first two and a half months of the year since 2014.

And finally, solar power generation has overtaken natural gas in PJM Interconnection's resource connection queue, tripling over the past two years to total nearly 94 GW, or around 58% of resources in the queue. In comparison, gas-fired plants constituted almost 15% of queued generation, according to the grid operator's 2021 Regional Transmission Expansion Plan. The report said renewable fuels are "changing the landscape of PJM's interconnection queue," and state policies have encouraged renewable energy generation, leading to the increase in solar generation interconnection requests. Queued solar generator requests for CIRs totaled over 93 GW actively under study, suspended, or under construction, with those CIRs corresponding to nameplate capacity totaling almost 151 GW, the report said.

The Platts Atlas of Energy Transition is your map to the sustainable commodity markets of the future. You can explore the Atlas by visiting the address displayed on your screen. Thanks for kicking off your Monday with us and have a great week ahead.