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Study finds that 15% of Ivory Coast cocoa supplies are at risk from the disease.
According to a report by the non-profit Enveritas, the swollen shoots disease has worsened in Ivory Coast. This puts 15% of the country’s supply?of chocolate ingredient at risk. The advocacy group, who surveyed more than?11600 cocoa -farms in Ivory Coast in 2024/25, found that 41% were infected by the virus, compared to 33% in two seasons. Swollen shoots are spread by mealybugs, small insects that eat flowers, leaves and buds. They allow trees to grow at first, but only in a limited way. It kills the trees after five to ten years. Enveritas claims that the disease reduces cocoa yields by 35%. This means that 15% of Ivory Coast’s cocoa supply is at risk, considering the number of farms infected in the country. Enveritas said that this trend could indicate a 'heightened supply risk', a 'potential shift in sourcing strategy, and an urgent requirement to target interventions more accurately. The Coffee and Cocoa Council of Ivory Coast (CCC) declined to comment. In 2024, the price of cocoa nearly tripled as adverse weather conditions and an outbreak of swollen-shoot disease decimated the crop in Ivory Coast. Ghana is also a neighbouring country that produces about half the cocoa in the world. Prices have fallen by?half in the past year, and they are expected to continue falling this year due to a global surplus. However, long-term supplies in West Africa remain at risk if the disease does not get under control. Ivory Coast, Ghana and other countries are prone to swollen shoot. However, its spread has increased in the last few years due to a lack of financial resources to combat it. To combat the disease, trees need to be removed and burned before cocoa can replanted. Ghana's 2023 survey showed that 31% of the total cocoa-growing area was infected by swollen stems, compared to 17% in 2017. In the 1960s and 70s, the disease decimated Ghana’s cacao crop. Production dropped by half at a time that Ghana was the largest producer of this ingredient in the world. (Reporting and editing by Jan Harvey; May Angel, Reporting)
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Silver sell-off eases as stocks edge higher, but nervousness is high
Global shares dropped on Monday as investors rushed to sell precious metals in order to cover losses. This was just before a week filled with corporate earnings, meetings of central banks, and important economic data. The sale of the stock market Silver The price of gold slowed down a bit during the European day but was still on track for its largest two-day drop since at least the 1980s. Last seen at $82 per ounce, the price has fallen around 30% from Thursday's closing. Dealers reported that pressure on silver futures funds from China contributed to the crash late last week. The CME raised margins for a variety of futures contracts including silver and gold on Monday. The oil prices fell by nearly 5% after President Donald Trump announced that Iran had been "seriously speaking" with Washington over the weekend, possibly reducing the risk of an American military strike against the country. The last European share price increase was?0.4%. This is after a daily loss of 0.7%, as precious metals reduced their losses. A The dollar's rise on Friday was a result of Trump's nomination of Kevin Warsh, whom many view as less friendly to ultra-loose monetary policies. This impacted Wall Street stocks and compounded a fall in silver prices that had already begun. SILVER FRENZY Silver prices had nearly doubled in just six weeks, reaching a record of $121.64 per ounce in January 29. This unprecedented rally was fuelled by investors' appetite for non-dollar investments, and retail traders' enthusiasm for lucrative returns. Ole Hansen is the head of commodity strategy for Saxo Bank. He said, "There has been a huge retail frenzy in these markets. We've seen record turnover on options markets relating to silver products." Hansen? emphasized that those who sell options which give holders the right to purchase silver must have a position in silver. He said: "When the market turns around, the only reason to hold (that position) is gone." Spot gold was down by 2%, after hitting a record of $5,594.82 per ounce in the previous week. Investors are waiting to see if billions invested in artificial intelligence will begin to pay off. DOLLAR STEADIES as YEN SLIPS The dollar was steady, trading at 154.8 yen against the dollar, and the euro was slightly positive, at $1.186. This is a slight recovery from Friday's drop of 1%. Following Trump's announcement that Warsh would be the next chairman of the central banks, the dollar rose by the most since May last year. Warsh is not expected to be as aggressive in reducing rates as some of his competitors, but he recently stated that he believed a looser monetary system may be needed, which aligns with Trump’s view that borrowing costs must drop quickly. Ray Attrill is the head of FX Strategy at NAB. He said that Trump would not have nominated Warsh for his nomination if he did not support lower interest rates. There is ample evidence to show that Warsh believes in higher non-inflationary rates of growth. The traders are still betting on two rate cuts by the Fed in this year. However, Friday's non-farm payrolls data could change their bets if it comes out significantly higher or lower than forecasts. On Thursday, the European Central Bank will meet with the Bank of England. However, neither bank is expected to change its monetary policy. This week, the Reserve Bank of Australia could also raise interest rates. Brent crude fell 4.7% to $66 per barrel as the threat of a military attack on Iran, a major oil exporter, waned. Wayne Cole reported; Stephen Coates, Emelia S. Sithole-Matarrise, and Chizu Nomiyama edited.
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Zelenskiy: No new Russian targeted strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukrainian president, said that Russia had not launched any drone or missile strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure during the past 24 hours despite energy facilities being targeted in frontline areas. Zelenskiy’s statement highlighted limitations of the short-term energy ceasefire that Russia agreed last week on the request of U.S. president Donald Trump. Zelenskiy stated that energy repair crews were able to restore damaged energy facilities after high-voltage lines malfunctioned at the weekend. This was on top of the damage caused by Russian attacks. "The energy system is working well." Zelenskiy stated on Telegram that despite the 'extremely cold weather' and Russian airstrikes, "all challenges remain grave". Zelenskiy stated that Russian forces are focusing on transport and logistics, particularly railway infrastructure. Last week, Russia and Ukraine announced that they had stopped their attacks on each other's infrastructure but were at odds over the timing of the truce. The Kremlin reported that Trump had personally requested Russian President Vladimir Putin not to strike Kyiv before February 1. Zelenskiy stated that the truce would last a week starting on January 30. Officials said that a Russian drone attack on Sunday killed 12 miners in a coal mining area of the Ukrainian Dnipropetrovsk Region. DTEK reported that a coal mine in the Dnipropetrovsk area was attacked on Monday for 'the second time within 24 hours. Regional officials reported that a Russian strike killed a father, son and two children as well as their mother in the frontline Donetsk Region. Kyiv is preparing to meet with Moscow in Abu Dhabi for talks this week about how to end the conflict. The talks will take place on Wednesday and/or Thursday. (Reporting and editing by Anna Pruchnicka; Olena Harmash)
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UK firm signss deal with Mitsui for iron ore pellets made from Pilbara material
Binding Solutions, a British company, has signed a deal with a Japanese trading house to convert iron ore from Western Australia's Pilbara region in low-carbon pellets. The privately-held company claims that its technology reduces energy and CO2 emission in the production iron ore pellets when compared with the established method. Binding Solutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mitsui Iron Ore Development for the production of cold-agglomerated Pellets, according to a press release. These pellets are made using less energy than conventional pellets. The company's CEO Jon Stewart stated that the progress made by the company in working with MIOD on developing pellets from Pilbara - the world's largest iron ore producing area - creates a "significant additional market opportunity" for the firm. Binding Solutions, under the preliminary agreement, will use its technology in order to convert lower-grade iron ore from Pilbara, known as "fines", into pellets that command a premium price. Mitsui is investing in Pilbara iron-ore operations alongside major producers BHP, Rio Tinto and Rio Tinto. Binding Solutions has conducted industrial trials with British Steel, Germany's Salzgitter and is looking to build a large-scale industrial plant. Before they can be used as fines in a blast furnace, iron ores must go through a process known as sintering. This involves a high temperature and is often highly polluting. Pellets are in high demand as they can be used to reduce carbon emissions in electric arc smelters. Mitsui announced in February of last year that it would purchase a 40% stake, for $5.34billion, in the Rio Tinto operated Rhodes Ridge Iron Ore Project in Western Australia. (Reporting and editing by Jan Harvey; Eric Onstad)
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In January, investors flock to gold and gold mining ETFs for safety
Investors sought safety in exchange-traded gold funds, precious metals, and gold mining companies, amid the geopolitical uncertainty, expectation of continued dollar weakness, as well as growing bets that U.S. interest rates will drop. According to LSEG Lipper, ETFs that hold?gold? and?other precious materials received $4.39 billion last month - the eighth consecutive month they have seen inflows. Inflows into gold mining ETFs reached $3.62 billion, the highest level since at least 2009. These ETFs collectively received $91.86 billion in inflows, which is more than eight-times the amount in 2024. Gold prices fell by about 10% over the last two days, after reaching record highs a week ago. This was due to CME Group raising margin requirements in response to a sharp selloff of metals triggered by Kevin Warsh being nominated as the new U.S. Federal Reserve chair. J.P. Morgan analysts expect the rally will remain intact in the long term despite recent volatility. They said that they were "firmly bullishly convinced" about gold in the medium term, based on a structural, clean trend of diversification. This trend has more to run, given the well-entrenched system of real assets outperforming paper assets. Last month, the SPDR Gold Shares ETF attracted $2.58 billion in new money, while SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust ETFs and iShares Gold Trust ETFs received $1.79 billion each and $696 millions respectively. VanEck Gold Miners ETF, which invests in gold mining companies, saw $539 million invested by investors. iShares S&P/TSX Gold Index ETF, VanEck Junior Gold Miners and VanEck Gold Miners ETF saw net purchases of $312?millions and $114?millions respectively. Mark Haefele is the chief investment officer of UBS Global Wealth Management. He said, "We expect central bank and investor demand to continue to increase this year. We remain long gold, and we see value in a mid-single digit allocation to gold in a diversified portfolio." He said that while he noted the downside risks due to the current high premium, he also stated that the price of gold could rise higher than a forecasted USD 5,400/oz in the event of increased political or financial risk.
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Sources say that China's teapots are buying Iranian oil to replace Venezuelan supplies.
Chinese independent refiners have purchased discounted Iranian heavy oil to replace Venezuelan shipments which were halted after the U.S. Two people familiar with the matter said that last month, the U.S. claimed control over the OPEC producer. They said that the withdrawal of Iranian crude oil from storage makes up for the fall in Venezuelan supplies to the world’s largest crude buyer. Venezuelan shipments into China have dropped sharply since the middle of December after U.S. president Donald Trump imposed an embargo on ships sanctioned, as part of a larger campaign against President Nicolas Maduro that culminated with his capture by U.S. troops on January 3. Trump has said that the U.S. will control Venezuela's oil revenues and sales indefinitely. Washington has ordered global trading firms Vitol, Trafigura and others to sell up to 50 million barrels Venezuelan oil that PetroChina had not purchased as it analyzed the U.S. controlled purchases. TEAPOTS ARE SEEKING IRANIAN "HEAVY" AND "PARS CRUDE" Sources said that China's independent refining companies, which used to be the largest buyers of Venezuelan heavy crude, now buy Iranian heavy crude in tanks and ships in China. The teapot refiners in China's eastern Shandong province, mainly based there, opted to buy Venezuelan crude marketed by Vitol and Trafigura or Canadian heavy grades because of the steep discounts. One of the sources said that teapots were looking for more shipments to China of Iranian heavy and pars crude grades in late February and early March. The sources declined to give their names due to the sensitive nature of the issue. Iranian Heavy was discounted by about $12 per barrel compared to ICE Brent. This made it the cheapest substitute, according to the sources. Russian Urals is another alternative that traded at a $11-$12 per barrel discount below ICE Brent. This was for delivery in March to China. Trade sources last month said that the teapots would not be interested in Vitol’s offer for Chinese buyers of Venezuelan crude to receive a discount of approximately $5 per barrel compared to ICE Brent, for delivery in April, due to?the sharp rise of prices since a 15% discount. VENEZUELA SUBSTANCES FALL Data from analytics firm Kpler shows that China imported 394,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude per day on average in 2025. This is around 4% or the total seaborne crude imports to China. Kpler data shows that the floating storage of Venezuelan crude oil in Asia has dropped to 8,26 million barrels, half the 16 million barrels it was at the beginning of 2026. The data also showed that the amount of Iranian oil stored in Asia on tankers dropped to 41.72 millions barrels, from 46.25million barrels, during the same time period. According to Kpler, the floating storage of crude oil from Russia in Asia reached a new high last week above 10 million barrels due to lower demand in India and Turkey.
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Oil prices drop sharply after US-Iran deescalation
The oil prices dropped by more than 4% Monday following a?U.S. Donald Trump stated that Iran was "seriously speaking" with Washington. This signaled a 'de-escalation' of tensions between Washington and an OPEC country. A stronger dollar also weighed down on oil prices. Brent crude futures fell $3.34 or 4.8% to $65.98 per barrel at 1113 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude fell $3.37 or 5.2% to $61.84 per a barrel. Brent and WTI both fell in February after their largest monthly gain since 2022. This was due to the waning of fears that a military attack on Iran would be launched after Trump's comments at the weekend. Brent rose 16% while WTI grew 13% in January. UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said that the lack of a "further escalation" of tensions, along with the falling disruptions of supply in the U.S.A. and Kazakhstan, had weighed on oil prices. Trump said that Iran is "seriously speaking" on Saturday, hours after Iran's top security official Ali Larijani announced that negotiations were in progress. Trump repeatedly warned Iran of intervention if they refused to agree to a nuclear deal or continued killing protesters. Priyanka Sackdeva, Phillip Nova analyst, says that the 'persistent threats' have supported oil prices all of January. According to PVM analyst Tamas Varga, the weakness in oil today is a combination of the disappearance in the geopolitical premium, as the U.S. shows tentative willingness to talk, and an increase in the dollar, due to the nomination of the new Federal Reserve Chairman. Analysts partially attribute the slump to the stronger U.S. Dollar. Sachdeva stated that the recent price drop was also a result of the renewed strength of U.S. Dollar, which makes dollar-denominated crude oil more expensive to non-U.S. customers, further affecting prices. Analysts said that concerns about the global oil supply being greater than demand has also come back to mind following the de-escalation of tensions in Middle East. OPEC+ decided to maintain its oil production for March at the same level as it was in November. In November, the grouping frozen planned increases from January to March 2026 due to seasonal lower consumption. Capital Economics wrote in a January 30 note that "Geopolitical Risks mask a fundamentally 'bearish' oil market." The historical example of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last year, and a well supplied oil market will still have a bearing on Brent crude prices until end-2026." (Reporting from Enes Tunagur in London, with additional reporting from Katya Golubkova and Sudarshan Varadhan in Singapore and Tokyo; editing by Clarence Fernandez & Jan Harvey).
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TSX futures drop as commodity rout continues
Futures tied to Canada's major stock index fell Monday due to a commodities selloff. Precious?metals continued their losses, and oil prices dropped after U.S. President Donald Trump indicated a de-escalation of the conflict with Iran. As of 5:45 a.m., March?futures _on Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index were down 0.42%. ET, signaling a gloomy start to the month of February, after the benchmark index had registered its longest winning streak in 2017 - nine consecutive monthly gains. The TSX recorded its largest single-day decline since April on Friday, as gold prices sank and mining stocks plummeted after Trump selected Kevin Warsh – a hawkish choice – to succeed Jerome Powell at the Federal Reserve. Gold spot prices continued to fall Monday, down 4.2% after falling more than 5% in the previous session. This was a two-week low. Silver fell 5% after CME Group, the world's largest commodity exchange, raised margin requirements following last week's collapse of metals prices. Copper also declined from its record high. Prices also fell after Trump claimed on Saturday that Iran, a major oil producer, was "seriously?talking?" with Washington. Brent crude futures as well as U.S. West Texas Intermediate were both down over 4.5%. Trump said that after last week threatening Canada with a tariff of 100%, the U.S. would respond on Saturday. If the trade agreement between?China and that country is implemented, there will be a major response. Capstone Copper announced on Monday that operations had resumed at its Mantoverde Mine in northern Chile despite a continuing strike by the?labor union which represents nearly 22%. CLICK CODES TO GET CANADIAN MARKETS UPDATES: TSX Market Report Canadian Dollar and Bond Report Global Stocks Poll for Canada Canadian Markets Directory (Reporting and editing by Jonathan Ananda in Bengaluru, Utkarsh T. Tushar Hathi)
US stock futures fall as commodities rout rattles the markets
?U.S. Stock index futures dropped on Monday as investors were unnerved by a violent sale of precious metals at the beginning of a week that will be filled with major economic data and corporate earnings.
As a result of the CME Group increasing margin requirements, gold and silver fell as much as 10%. This was after a historic drop on Friday. Leveraged investors were forced to unwind their positions in order to meet margin requirements.
Premarket trading saw a drop in the U.S. listings of gold and silver miners. Newmont fell 2.2% while Barrick Mining, Kinross Gold, and Barrick Mining all dropped 2.8%.
Hecla Mining and Coeur Mining both fell by over 2.7%.
Last week, the metals market plunged even further after a?U.S. Kevin Warsh was nominated by President Donald Trump to be the next Federal Reserve Chair, replacing Jerome Powell. This move was viewed as hawkish by investors.
Energy company shares dropped after Trump stated that Iran was "seriously speaking" with Washington. This signaled a de-escalation, and eased supply disruption concerns. Exxon Mobil, Chevron and other energy companies fell by over 1.5%.
At 05.29 a.m. At 05:29 a.m. ET, Dow Eminis had fallen?117 or 0.24%. S&P 500 Eminis fell 41 or 0.59%. Nasdaq Eminis dropped 222 or 0.86%.
The volatility VIX index rose to 19.11 and hovered near a 2-week high following last week's turbulent stretch, triggered by mixed megacap earnings as well as increased policy uncertainty resulting from Trump's selection of Warsh.
In premarket trading tech mega-caps fell. Nvidia, Tesla, and Meta all lost nearly 2%, while Alphabet and Alphabet each lost 1,4%.
Microsoft and Amazon each lost more than 0.8%.
Alphabet Amazon AMD and 128 other S&P 500 companies are expected to release results this week.
The market's reaction to last week's tech results highlighted the tightening tolerance of capital-spending plans, unless companies show accelerated growth.
Microsoft shares notched ?their worst week since March 2020 on Friday, after cloud revenue disappointed, heightening scrutiny over whether the industry's multi-billion dollar artificial-intelligence investments will begin to generate meaningful returns.
Oracle's share price dropped by 3.7% following the announcement that it plans to raise between $45 and $50 billion this year in debt and equity.
After Congress failed to pass a deal to fund a large number of government operations, the U.S. experienced a short-lived shutdown on Saturday.
This week, the U.S. economic data will be able to provide a number of indicators on the state of the economy.
S&P Global will release its composite PMI for January on Wednesday. Later in the week, JOLTS and jobless claims will be the main labor-market indicators. (Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
(source: Reuters)