In this week’s Market Movers Asia with S Anirudh Iyer:
- China oil, gas companies to release production outlook
- Steel production bearish
- Asian thermal coal demand weakens
- Indian rice market awaits clarity on export duty
China's state-owned oil and gas companies PetroChina, Sinopec, and CNOOC will hold their 2023 financial results briefing in the coming days, and release output targets for 2024.
Those numbers will help the market get direction from Asia’s top consumer of crude on output, throughput, oil and petrochemical production as well as China’s crude import and oil product export trends this year.
In metals, China's National Bureau of Statistics will release its steel production data, which is likely to show a drop in pig iron and crude steel production over January-February compared to the previous year.
Weakness in China’s debt-laden property sector and slower infrastructure construction have weighed on the country’s steel demand.
In the Asian thermal coal market, prices are likely to be under pressure due to fading demand from China and India.
On the supply side, recent weather-related disruptions are expected to ease in Indonesia, while supply of Australian thermal coal is expected to be tight due to vessel congestion at ports and low availability of spot cargoes.
In agriculture, Indian rice market participants await clarity on export duties after a change in the calculation method resulted in a higher tariff and led to a fall in Indian parboiled rice exports.
In other leading Asian rice markets of Vietnam and Thailand, markets participants are focusing on the ongoing harvest.
I’m S Anirudh Iyer, thank you for kicking off your Monday with S&P Global Commodity Insights.