In this Market Movers Asia with Shikha Singh:
- LNG markets watch for production impact at Australian facilities
- Asian thermal coal may see high prices, demand
- Crude prices continue to climb
- Increase in China’s EV demand to support aluminum prices
This week, the LNG market will continue to watch for any production impact at the Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities in Australia amid escalating strikes.
Asia is also seeing a slow start to its winter procurement for LNG on the back of healthy inventories and a less-jittery global gas market compared to last year.
The anticipation of an LNG supply crunch could also nudge prices of Australian coal higher in the coming days.
Demand for the Asian thermal coal is also expected to continue from India and China as Indian buyers will restock for the upcoming festive season, and Chinese buyers might stock up before a week-long holiday starting Sept 29.
Crude prices have continued to climb, as the market reels in the impact of extended output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia, which are likely to lead to global oil market deficits through the end of the year.
Meanwhile, some Asian refiners are hoping that the potential easing of sanctions on Iran could help to alleviate tight crude supply.
Over in metals, Chinese primary aluminum prices might continue to take support from increased demand from electric vehicle and photovoltaic sectors amid lower stock levels.
China’s electric vehicle sales are likely to rise in the coming days after the country released stimulus packages to boost electric vehicle consumption. However, this is unlikely to support lithium carbonate prices due to robust supply and poor downstream demand.
I am Shikha Singh, thank you for kicking off your Monday with S&P Global Commodity Insights.